Team Vixen Racing: women at the helm in the PIC Coastal Classic 2025
- Oct 23, 2025
- 2 min read
Updated: Oct 28, 2025
A new name on the PIC Coastal Classic start list this year is Vixen Racing, a campaign built around a clear purpose: to see more women owning and skippering competitive offshore boats.
Skipper Sharon Ferris-Choat and co-owners Deb Steele, Carla Bennett and Lynn have recently purchased Vixen, a modified Class 40 monohull. The boat, originally owned by Graham Dalton and later by Scott and Tash Fickling, has been tailored for inshore and light-air conditions, with a taller rig and longer bowsprit to boost power in the Gulf’s lighter breezes.
This year’s Coastal serves as both a debut and a shakedown. “We’ve done a few small modifications and just want to learn the boat as a team,” Sharon says. After the finish in Russell, the crew will continue north to Opua, preparing for a Trans-Tasman crossing to Sydney, where Vixen will line up for the Rolex Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race. Their weather window opens 17 November, with an eight-day passage planned via the northern route around the high.
Their crew blends depth and diversity, 50 percent women and 50 percent men, including Olympic Finn sailor Clifton Webb, Taylor Edwards as boat captain, and James Tucker, fresh from winning the Sands Series double-handed aboard Vixen. Tucker joins to pass on “tricks of the trade” as the team fine-tunes its rhythm.
Beyond the racing, Vixen Racing carries a philosophy. The team believes opportunity builds capability. “We don’t necessarily need quotas,” says Sharon, “but if that’s the only way to get women on boats, then we need to do it, because the opportunities still aren’t there.” Co-owner Carla, a former match racer and Olympian, adds that mixed crews often perform better by playing to combined strengths rather than relying on brute power.
Their approach reflects a wider shift in sailing culture, from token inclusion to genuine participation. “You can’t compete if you don’t have the opportunity,” Sharon says.
For the Coastal Classic, that mission is already underway, and Vixen is ready to show what’s possible when skill, experience and purpose meet on the start line.
This article provides an inspiring and informative look at Team Vixen Racing’s debut in the PIC Coastal Classic 2025, highlighting not only their competitive ambitions but also their broader mission to create more opportunities for women in offshore sailing. It clearly explains how the team, led by skipper Sharon Ferris-Choat, combines experience, diversity, and a strong sense of purpose, with a mixed crew and a modified Class 40 yacht designed for performance in local conditions. The focus on building pathways for women to step into ownership and leadership roles adds depth to the story, showing that the campaign is about more than just racing, but also about long term change within the sport. In the same way that HND Assignment…