Pamela Lee: Participation in water sports can be life altering

Meet the sailor and world-record holder who wants to be the first Irish woman to race around the world short-handed 

Pamela Lee: I want people to see sailing, and myself as someone they could come to if they needed guidance or advice or just look at the sport and think, ‘Yeah, I could do that’.

"Offshore sailing, as a profession, is something that few women take up. They simply don’t know it’s an option for them,” begins Pamela Lee.

This is probably why this writer had never heard of any woman doing offshore sailing for a career before I discovered Pamela Lee

She’s used, to put it mildly, to accomplishing professional feats at sea that are quite remarkable. Finishes in world-famous open-ocean races from the Fastnet Race, the iconic Sydney to Hobart race, and sailing the Atlantic several times over, are just a handful of examples.

“Offshore sailing – a type of sailing that takes you out of sight of land for more than 12 miles offshore often for 12 hours – is a unique sport in a number of ways,” Pamela tells me. “Men and women compete together and against each other on the same teams and in the same races, there are no categories.

“There is also no ‘pathway’, unlike national team sports where you work your way up from local, to regional and international – offshore sailing is an open playing field and often the only way you climb the ladder is through experience, connections and opportunities handed down by others.” 

Sailor and world-record holder Pamela Lee is on a mission to make Offshore Sailing more accessible for Irish women

It’s this, she says, that can be off-putting when it comes to those wanting to pursue it seriously in Ireland. There is no straightforward path to turning professional as an offshore sailor, but what started out as a passion and hobby is now a full-time career for the athlete and three-time Round Ireland world record holder, thanks to her grit, hard work, and determination.

Her love of the ocean began at home due to a family actively involved in watersports and her dad, a keen self-taught sailor. She explains she got her first real taste of sailing out in the open ocean after she helped deliver a yacht to the Caribbean at aged 24, and through gaining experience afterwards, slowly realised she might be able to carve a career out of her love of the ocean.

The Greystones native’s journey hasn’t been a straightforward path; from an undergrad in communications at Dublin City University (DCU) to a master’s in London, she is now living, working, and sailing through France. She has settled there for the time being because it’s a place where she can "pursue my own goals, build my own projects, such as a mentorship programme with Irish Sailing (the first of its kind), but also where I can work – I can make a living by working with other teams while also getting experience. If I was back in Ireland, there’s no way I could work within the industry whilst also trying to get something off the ground, it’s not possible at home.

The opportunities just aren’t on home shores – my mum would always say, ‘Ireland’s just too small for you, pet!’ 

"But my Irishness is always there; I’m working towards trying to have my own boat, my own project to my name. And in a dream world, it would be to do this underneath Irish flag,” she says. 

And one of those current projects – to sail her own boat to the 2023 Class40 The Race Around, an around-the-world race in late summer 2023 – is a dream, which could very much soon become a reality. Ultimately, she wants to have her own boat and be the first Irish woman to race around the world short-handed (sailing with very few accompanying sailors, usually three or four maximum).

Pamela Lee wants to be the first Irish woman to race around the world short-handed 

Pamela says an obvious perk through her career as a professional sailor is that she has travelled all around the world, but the benefits of being involved in the water day-to-day to her health have been an aspect of it that particularly stands out.

“I genuinely believe that participation in water sports, even on a basic level, can be life altering and powerful for our mental health – we are an island nation and very lucky and I think as many people as possible should have access to activities involving or on the ocean in their daily life.” 

She says she’s noticed there seems to be a bit of a block in Ireland, “for girls in particular just giving watersports like surfing a go” as sailing and watersports can often be seen to be male dominated. It’s a sexist stereotype she wants to discard.

“I don’t see why the guys should get all the benefits and not the girls!," she says.

Like a lot of sports – and life in general – it’s secular, it can be super sexist.

"And there’s a lot of gender inequality, especially if you’re relying on others giving you opportunity, and getting into a position where others are happy to have you on board and train you. 

"It’s then that the element of gender really comes into play. There just is more men doing it and more men with boats and so on, so inevitably the prejudice is more strengthened.”

The 33-year-old points out that so many of the skills you need for something like offshore sailing, from leadership teamwork, decision making under pressures, extreme endurance, tactical and reactive thinking, and strategic planning. All are all transferrable skills you can use in high-powered leadership roles. 

“With extreme water sports, what’s cool is that you’re pushing yourself; you have to give yourself a pep talk, you’re dealing with challenges – it’s you, there in the moment and you have to deal with the situation. That’s a great life skill to have.

Pamela Lee: I think as many people as possible should have access to activities involving or on the ocean in their daily life

“So, I’m not saying everyone has to become a professional Offshore sailer but, even as a hobby, sailing has so many benefits.” 

It’s through speaking out as she is now that she hopes to see the scales, or quite literally, the sails, evened out for men and women.

On the back of World Ocean Day in early May, Pamela adds that all of this also translates to taking care of the sea in a direct way. “Because the more we are in the sea and love the sea and appreciate the sea, the more that we engage with it, which gives us the understanding and motivation to look after it as well.”

Alongside her frankly incredible ambitions, she says she wants to help create more opportunities and awareness of offshore sailing for young sailors and females, to get involved in the sport and “have it as more of an option or an avenue, either as a hobby or as a professional career down the road.

“But either way, trying to bring it back. I want people to see sailing, and myself as someone they could come to if they needed guidance or advice or just look at the sport and think, ‘Yeah, I could do that’.” 

Sailing, for Pamela, has meant she could spend much of her life having adventures out at sea – and she’d love if more Irish women could join her.