VAUDREUIL-SUR-LE-LAC, Que. – A 17-year-old Quebec sailor, Jasmine Pernot, is sailing off on an adventure and aiming to inspire women to get on board and lead in the racing world. She is setting off to be the youngest skipper of a mostly female crew during a new race called the St-Laurent 400. The adventure will take Pernot and her crew of six on a 400-nautical-mile journey from Tadoussac to the Magdalen islands, spanning the Gulf of St. Lawrence and the Estuary. Sailors will make one stopover, but otherwise this is an offshore race that will see the boats navigating 24 hours a day. Pernot says women have traditionally not been skippers and that even today, they often take on secondary roles on board. She will be leading women older than her. “I want to prove that we can all do this,” says Pernot. “I have an almost all women crew besides Daniel.” Daniel Bérubé is an experienced sailor, and instructor with Femina Jeunesse, a Quebec City based program teaching teenaged girls to sail and race. The aim is to develop leadership skills, self-confidence and teamwork. Pernot had never sailed before she enrolled in the program at the age of 15. Bérubé was one of the instructors who taught her the ropes. He says she is a quick learner with a strong will, necessary qualities to be a skipper. “She just took charge of the boat,” he says. “I was just at the helm of the boat, and she was like ”OK girls fix this, and that.’” Bérubé and Pernot have since teamed up and navigated nearly 6,000 nautical miles together. For the upcoming inaugural St-Laurent 400 race, Bérubé will be on board as the second-in-command. “The biggest challenge will be the currents and the tide,” says Bérubé. “It’s very technical on the Saint Lawrence (river). There is also commercial traffic and choosing your best route with the currents is very hard.” Pernot says raising money to pay the participation fee for the race, to rent the boat, the food and docking costs was hard work. She says it is all worthwhile to experience the thrill and adventure of a sailing race. “It’s freedom, and it brings me confidence,” Pernot says. “After that race, I will know that I can do it.” She plans to wrap up the race with a move to Rimouski, Que. where she has enrolled at the Institut maritime du Québec – Canada’s largest French-language maritime training school. The sailing crews will set off on the St-Laurent 400 on Aug. 6 from Tadoussac, and plan to arrive in the Magdalen Islands around Aug. 11, after a stopover of a few days. Pernot will be posting updates on her Facebook page called “jasmine a voile.”
