Carina Becker: The professional sailor life

When you try to imagine the life of a professional sailor, what do you picture? Long stretches of time riding an ocean swell? Moments of fast action crossing a super-maxi at the start of the Sydney-Hobart? While the job differs depending on the boat and program, we took a peek into the life of a professional sailor by catching up with American Yacht Club member Carina Becker.

Carina is a professional sailor helping manage and race PROSPECTOR, a TP52 that races with 13 people. The boat is a racing machine, 52 feet long with carbon hulls, honeycomb cores, and carbon fiber masts. Owners hire their own builders and designers but the boats all conform with a “box rule” that sets things like length, beam, displacement, draft and sail area.

As a youth, Carina sailed dinghies in the JAYC program and sailed in college at Boston University, but she was constantly ducking away to chase her real passion of working on big boats. “I like the team aspect and I really like maneuvers,” she said. “I love a good douse or set, or in distance racing figuring out how many sail changes we can do. Everyone holds so much accountability and you have to hold up your end of the job, while sharing a common goal.” – Full report