Miranda Merron - a madforsailing profile

Travel writer. If I’d been born a century ago, I would have liked to been involved in Antarctic exploration, but that’s easy to say from the comfort of home! I’m not sure that women were particularly welcome anyway.

What other sports do you do outside sailing?
Skiing, snow-boarding, climbing

Any other hobbies or interests?
Travelling; maritime superstitions

Favourite method of relaxing?
With friends in the pub; a couple of days on a beach with a good book, without mobile phone or e-mail.

Favourite bar or pub?
King & Queen, Hamble; Mogambo’s, Tokyo

What inspired you to take up sailing?
My father

Where was your first sailing club?
Seine-Port, south of Paris

Which class did you first race in?
Optimist

How did you buy your first boat?
Kind parents

Have you ever used a coach and who were they?
Local coaches at assorted sailing clubs, in assorted countries. Serge Madec, (formerly the skippr of Jet Services V, which still holds the west-east transatlantic record), coached us on Royal & SunAlliance, and several talented friends have given sound advice over the years.

What professional links do you have to the sport?
Some of my income over the past five years has been from sailing with big projects like Royal & SunAlliance and Pindar.

What’s your most memorable moment in sailing?
Surfing down waves in the Southern Ocean on Royal & SunAlliance, max speed 35 knots.

What’s your biggest remaining goal in sailing?
To complete the Vendee Globe in 2004.

How much time do you spend on the water each week?
It varies from project to project, but main interest is long-distance ocean racing, so when racing it’s seven days a week.

Do you have a sponsor and if so, who?
Currently looking for new sponsor for an Open 60 campaign.

Who are your sailing heroes and why?
Ernest Shackleton and his small crew on the James Caird, for their voyage from Elephant Island to South Georgia in 1916. True seamanship.

What is the best excuse you’ve ever made for a poor performance in a race?
Not sure, but I’m certain it must be hangover-related.

What’s your favourite sailing venue and why?
Southern Ocean: beautiful, desolate, big waves, though sometimes scary.
Wouldn’t it be great if all sailing was downwind only (pigs, airborne!)

What’s your greatest strength in sailing?
Finding energy to keep going when it seems impossible to go on.

What’s your greatest weakness in sailing?
Still got a huge amount to learn, especially all aspects of solo sailing.
Strong aversion to parking large yachts in small spaces.

What’s the single most important piece of advice you could give to younger sailors?
Perseverance - keep working hard and you may eventually get that lucky break. There is also an element of being in the right place at the right time.

Would you rather sail with your friends - or with someone like Russell Coutts?
My friends, though I would like to learn from someone like Russell Coutts. Having said that, I only like sailing with friends who adhere to a policy of NO SHOUTING.

Who do you think are the best sailors in Britain?
Our Olympic medallists - what an awesome performance.
Some of the offshore racers, particularly solo.

Who’s the best sailor in the world? How do you choose?
How do you choose when there are so many different aspects to the sport? Round-the-cans or round-the-world? Paul Elvstrom, Michel Desjoyeaux?

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