Kay Cottee
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Kay Cottee, AO (born 1954, Sydney, Australia) was the first female sailor to perform a single-handed, non-stop circumnavigation of the world. She performed this feat in 1988 in her 37 feet (11 m) yacht Blackmore's First Lady, taking 189 days.
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[edit] Early life
Born Kay McLaren, the youngest of four daughters, in Sydney on 25 January 1954 Cottee grew up in the southern Sydney suburb of Botany Bayside, near Sans Souci. She was born into a yachting family and was taken sailing for the first time when only a few weeks old. For high-schooling she attended Moorefield Girls High School in Kogarah, NSW.
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At 34, Kay Cottee became the first woman to sail solo, unassisted and nonstop round the world in June 1988. Leaving on 29 November 1987 from Watsons Bay and returning 189 days later on 5 June, she cruised into Sydney Harbour to be met by tens of thousands of well wishers.
Her historic voyage on the 37 feet (11 m) yacht Blackmore's First Lady was the result of a childhood ambition.
She suffered extensive bruising when, in the Southern Ocean, her boat turned upside down and she was washed overboard while harnessed to the boat by two safety lines. A highlight of her trip was rounding Cape Horn of southern Chile, the southernmost tip off South America, which she celebrated with a lunch of crab, mayonnaise and self baked bread, and a bottle of Grange, a prestigious Australian wine.
[edit] Since
Her new book, about her life since the voyage, is All at Sea on Land, published by Collins. Her first book, First Lady, was published by Macmillan. Now a motivational speaker, Cottee has raised more than A$1 million for the Life Education charity.
In 1988, Cottee received the Australian of the Year Award.[1][2] She has also been appointed[when?] an Officer of the Order of Australia.[citation needed] She is the second only ever recipient of the Cutty Sark Medal - UK.[3]
In 1991, Cottee joined the advisory board of the Australian National Maritime Museum.[4] She was chair of the museum from 1995 until 2001.[citation needed] In 2000, Blackmore's First Lady, was acquired by the museum, and placed on permanent display.[4]
She now lives at Yamba on the far NSW north coast with television producer husband Peter Sutton and their son Lee Sutton. Cottee is a skilled boat builder, driver, painter and sculptor.
[edit] References
- ^ Lewis, Wendy (2010). Australians of the Year. Pier 9 Press. ISBN 9781741968095.
- ^ Australian of the Year - 1988
- ^ Speaker Profile of Kay Cottee AO at The Celebrity Speakers Bureau
- ^ a b Cornford, 5 February 2000. "Cottee sells First Lady to museum". The Sydney Morning Herald: pp. 15.
| Awards | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by John Farnham |
Australian of the Year Award 1988 |
Succeeded by Allan Border |
