Celebrating Mighty Mary, previewing the NYYC's WIC and World Sailing's Women's Match Racing Worlds
by David Schmidt 9 Sep 08:00 PDT
September 8, 2026
The Mighty Mary crew reunites for some sailing off of Oyster Bay, New York © RICHARD SCHULTZ
I recently had the chance to stream Mary Mazzio's feature-length documentary film, Mighty Mary, ahead of its September 11 release in AMC Theaters. The film, which was narrated by Elizabeth Banks and Hugh Jackman, chronicles the first all-women's team to compete in the America's Cup defender trials through historical and contemporary footage and interviews with many of the world-class sailors and athletes who were involved in this highly influential campaign that forever changed—and improved—our sport.
Some backstory, for anyone who is just tuning in to this chapter in the Auld Mug's 175-year history.
In 1992, Bill Koch's America3 defeated Il Moro di Venezia to win the America's Cup. Then, in early 1994, Koch announced that he was assembling and financing the first all-women's team to compete in the 1995 Citizen Cup, which took place on the waters off of San Diego, California, and which served as the defender selection series ahead of the 1995 America's Cup.
Hundreds of talented women sailors and athletes applied, and much work went into selecting, creating, and coaching the team, which included a who's-who roster of world-class sailors (including—but certainly not limited to—J.J. Fetter, Dawn Riley, Linda Lindquist-Bishop, Katie Pettibone, and Leslie Egnot) and Olympic rowers.
The team initially started training aboard Koch's previous-generation IACC boats until their brand-new boat, Mighty Mary (USA 43), was delivered. Koch fittingly named the boat after his mother, and while it was forecast to be the fastest gun in town, it—like every sailboat—required some teething.
Also, instead of naming a skipper, Koch preferred to maintain an onboard environment that was devoid of "tall poppies".
While this decision would create headaches, the team notched up their share of wins, including beating Mr. America's Cup himself, Dennis Conner (DC), in the Citizen Cup's opening race.
The film does an excellent job of documenting the team's high and low tides, including detailing a controversial (but legal) backroom deal between DC, Koch, and the PACT 95 (Young America) campaign that resulted in a three-boat final series, rather than the planned two-boat series.
Attitudes were different in the mid-90s than they are today, and while the film pulls no punches in documenting the blatant sexism that the Mighty Mary team endured, it also captured the fact that the team earned (and then commanded) the respect of their fellow competitors, both on and off the racecourse.
Without triggering too many spoilers (I hope!), DC himself summed things up when describing a critical race that saw Mighty Mary amass a staggering lead, only to have Mother Nature intervene with some inopportune lulls.
"If it was a normal windy race," DC recalls in the film, "Mighty Mary would have won".
Still, it was an interview with Leslie Egnot, the team's helm, that particularly resonated.
Egnot described calling her grandfather, who inspired her sailing career but was in a nursing home and nearing the end of his life's journey. "I've seen all I need to see now," Egnot recalled her grandfather telling her after watching the first Citizen Cup race, when the all-women's team schooled DC. "I can go now."
In addition to documenting myriad cracks in the America's Cup's glass ceiling, the movie provides plenty of levity. I'll admit to cracking a grin when I heard veteran male sailors describing how they were downright gob smacked by the volume and creativity of colorful language that the women employed.
And then there was Mighty Mary's out-of-the-box high-aspect rudder, which the team colorfully dubbed the "Johnny Holmes". (Google if you're unfamiliar with Mr. Holmes 'body of work' [ahem], but we suggest using a private browsing mode and non-work computers..)
Sailors will be sailors.
As mentioned, Mighty Mary is set to start unfurling in AMC Theaters on Friday, and Sail-World encourages all readers to see it on the big screen. Not only did Mazzio—who is a former Olympic rower (she competed in the 1992 Games), a graduate of Georgetown Law, and an award-winning filmmaker—capture a rich moment in sailing's history, but the level of storytelling that she achieves is more than worth your time.
Having seen just about every sailing film ever made, Mighty Mary is one of the absolute best.
Speaking of world-class women sailors competing on the international stage, there are two high-level women's sailing events that will be unfurling within the next month, and both should be on your radar.
The first is the New York Yacht Club's inaugural Women's International Championship (September 12-19). This event will see 20 all-women's teams from 14 countries competing aboard the NYYC's fleet of identical IC-37 keelboats on the waters of Rhode Island's Narragansett Bay.
The second is the 2026 World Sailing Women's Match Racing World Championship (September 30 to October 4), which is being hosted by the St. Francis Yacht Club, and which will be contested on the often-windy waters of San Francisco Bay. This event will see 12 all-women's teams, hailing from seven countries, competing aboard the StFYC's fleet of J/22s.
A glance at the entry lists of both events reveals a who's-who of top-level sailing talent from around the world (interestingly, there is some overlap between the two entry lists), and there's little question that these regattas will deliver some of the year's best racing.
Sail-World wishes all competing teams great luck.
May the four winds blow you safely home.
David Schmidt
Sail-World.com North American Editor