Julie Bishop jumps ship for all-female racing team in Sydney to Hobart

The Liberal Party has developed a habit of dumping its leaders overboard.

But when former Foreign Minister Julie Bishop jumps off Sydney to Hobart yacht Wild Oats X as it passes Bondi Beach on its journey south on Boxing Day, her actions will be entirely voluntary.

The prominent West Australian backbencher will leap from the yacht to promote Wild Oats Xs all-female crew, who are racing under the banner of Ocean Respect Racing, and their message of environmental sustainability.

"As ambassador for Ocean Respect Racing I have trained with the all-female team and I am hopeful that they will lift the Tattersall's Cup and win the overall handicap honours," Ms Bishop said.

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"Australians have a fascination and respect for our oceans and the vital role that oceans play. We are bound by three of the world's great oceans – the Pacific, Indian and Great Southern – and 85 per cent of our population lives within kilometres of our shoreline."

"As Foreign Minister I attended the Our Oceans Conference in Washington and Because the Ocean at COP22 in Marrakech in 2016 and my interest in and advocacy for protecting and sustaining our oceans will continue."

Ms Bishop will not have far to swim once she leaps overboard; she will be collected by another boat trailing Wild Oats X, although the Ocean Respect team said Ms Bishop would be welcome all the way to Hobart if she enjoyed the first part of the voyage.

A first, but going for the finish

While crews of women have competed in the race before, this is the first time that an all-female professional crew has been assembled specifically for the Sydney to Hobart.

Skipper Stacey Jackson, who comes to the bluewater classic after finishing her second globe-spanning Volvo Ocean Race, said that one of her crew's goals was to challenge the sailing “boys club”.

“Thats a hard thing to go into if youre a female or young adult trying to get into sailing. Its pretty intimidating,” Jackson said.

But Jackson wants her crew to be respected for their skills rather than their gender.

“I would just like people to see that Ive just picked a lot of very good sailors and it just happens that they were all females,” she said.

“For me its like, sure, you can be impressed by the fact that were all women. We dont think its that impressive because we think that it should be normal.”

Racing for a cause

Ocean Respect Racing takes its name from Jackson and her crew's mission to promote ocean health and reduce plastic consumption.

Jackson said her around-the-world racing experience, in which her yacht was part of a campaign to encourage countries to support the United Nation's Clean Seas plastic reduction program, made her more aware of environmental issues.

"Throughout that race as a team we learned about sustainability and ocean health and the use of plastics in everyday life," Jackson said.

"It was a massive eye-opener for me, but just because the race finished, it didn't mean that what I was learning and trying to do in life had to stop."

So Jackson set up Ocean Respect Racing with backing from the US-based 11th Hour Racing team, itself an initiative of billionaire former Google chairman Eric Schmidt and his wife Wendy.

Todd McGuire, program director at 11th Hour Racing, said that his organisation used sport to encourage people who would not normally care about the environment to change their minds.

"Far more people actively follow sport than science," McGuire said.

Nick is a journalist for The Sydney Morning Herald.

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