AAS: How old were you when you began sailing?
JM: I learned to sail when I was about 8-years-old at my local sailing club in the west of Ireland – Mayo Sailing Club.
AAS: You launched your solo sailing career in 2018. What are your favourite races to have competed in?
JM: The highlight of my 2018 season was being the first Irish woman ever to compete in La Solitaire du Figaro. This is a four stage race in Europe covering about 3,500km. It is a really gruelling race; each stage is about four days and you only sleep about one to three hours in each 24 hour period, sometimes less! It was a lot of hard work to get to the start line, and even more to finish it. I was really proud of myself to have completed it. I learned a lot about myself throughout the race – sleep deprivation and the pressure of the competition teach you a lot about who you really are and how you react under stress.
I competed in two very memorable IMOCA races – these are raced in the type of boat used for the Vendée Globe. One was the Monaco Globe series, where we finished fourth. It was amazing sailing through the Mediterranean, with tight racing and the experience of the craziness that is Monaco!
In 2019 I raced the double-handed Transat Jacques Vabre race with French skipper Alexia Barrier on her boat. We had such a fun race, enjoying every day of being at sea, pushing the boat and ourselves as hard as we could.
AAS: Tell us about your current boat.
JM: At the moment the team I am sailing with – the Famous Project – has two awesome boats – one is a 70ft trimaran that is made for breaking speed records; it is a flying machine! We also have a 100ft trimaran that we plan to attempt a round the world sailing record on in winter 2025.
AAS: Can you tell us about The Famous Project?
JM: The Famous Project is an awesome project put together by my friend Alexia Barrier. The first goal of the project is to make an all-female attempt at the outright round the world sailing record, but the project is much further reaching than that – aiming to elevate the careers of as many professional female sailors as possible. The project has environmental and educational goals to share all that we are doing as a team with as wide an audience as possible. I really respect Alexia and completely trust her – I know that when she says she will do something she will, and she has been running this project in a way to maximise the opportunity for women.
AAS: Are you still working towards becoming the first Irish woman to compete in the Vendée Globe?
JM: Yes! This is a dream I cannot shake off. I have two young children (they are two and three) and I was not sure if that dream would survive motherhood but it certainly has! One of the biggest challenges with this goal is actually putting together the project – finding a sponsor, managing the boat, the technical side and the financial side to ensure everyone in the project achieves their goals. I need to pick the time that is right to do this for my family – if any potential sponsors are reading this – get in touch.
AAS: What other plans do you have for 2024?
JM: In 2024 the main focus is to continue training and learning with The Famous Project. We have training on the MOD 70 in the diary and hopefully from the summer onwards we will have the ‘big boat’ – our 100ft Ultime – in the water and we will get some training on that. I am involved in our family mussel farm and I have a small engineering business, and I also will be doing some parenting – so I am pretty busy at the moment!
AAS: What does your role as a Helly Hansen ambassador involve?
JM: My role as a Helly Hansen ambassador has many different aspects. We have worked together since the very start of my solo sailing career and it has been a great relationship over many years. There is always a big variety to the things we collaborate on – it could be meetings to discuss technical gear design, it could be bringing journalists sailing on my boat, it could be doing talks or interviews – it is always fun to work with the team there who are so passionate about what they do. As a sailor it is fantastic to have had a strong and consistent gear partner – their kit is so good it is just one thing I have never had to worry about. I know whatever they send me will be right for the job.
AAS: You have previously been involved in a Climate Change Mission with Team UMIAQ – can you tell us more about this?
JM: Yes, I was part of an all-female group who sailed from Iceland to Greenland to make a documentary about climate change in Greenland. It was a fantastic experience – we charted a wonderful boat (Qilak) with a great crew. I was five months pregnant at the time and so for me it was great to see that I could do something useful with sailing – something that was not just the selfish pursuit of solo racing. There were some great women onboard and we got to see parts of an amazing country and sadly witness the effects of climate change. It was great to be able to use my skills as a sailor to help the amazing women onboard to spread the message about climate change.
AAS: Which sailors have inspired you?
JM: Ellen MacArthur when I was a child. Irish sailors who have performed at a high level like Damian Foxhall, Enda O’Coineen who attempted the Vendée Globe and taught me so much about believing in myself. Female sailors who have forged their own path – Alexia Barrier, Pip Hare, Sam Davis, Clarisse Cremer, Justine Mettreaux, the women of the Famous Project. Sam Goodchild, Alan Roberts and other friends in sailing who constantly inspire me to push myself and to not give up on the dream.
AAS: If you could have dinner with any two people from history, dead or alive, who would you choose?
JM: Toto and Susie Wolff – I would quiz them about how to get sponsors and run a high performance sports team.
All images: Mark Lloyd
