Photo: Getty Images
A 14-year-old girl sailed her first Bayview Mackinac Race Sunday (July 17) and won, according to USA Today.
When Merritt Sellers and her father Scott Sellers of Larkspur, California, pulled into the Mackinac Island harbor just after 9 p.m., they were met with cheers and applause. The two set sail on the J/111 sailboat "nosurprise" at 11:30 a.m. on Saturday just north of the Blue Water Bridge in Port Huron. The trip was 204-nautical-miles and 33 hours of non-stop work.
Merritt Sellers, who's been sailing since she was 7-years-old, manned the boat alone at night on the journey while her father rested below. "I sat there, trimming the sail, eating Sun Chips, and thinking about how much I wanted to go to bed," Merritt said (via USA Today).
The sailboat, which typically raced with eight sailors, had only the two on board. They even crossed the finish line an hour before their rival, a boat named "Utah" from Holland, Michigan, which carried sailors who have won multiple times in the past. "We got 'em at night," 50-year-old Scott Sellers told the Detroit Free Press. "I worried they would get us. We went from 2 miles back to 2 miles in front."
"It's so cool to see so many girls sailing," Merritt Sellers said. "I'm on a sailing team with guys on it and, at first, I didn't feel I was quite one of them. I want more women in the sport."