Kay Cottee (née McLaren, born 25 January 1954) is an Australian

sailor A sailor, seaman, mariner, or seafarer is a person who works aboard a watercraft as part of its crew, and may work in any one of a number of different fields that are related to the operation and maintenance of a ship. The profession of the s ...

, who was the first woman to perform a single-handed, non-stop and unassisted

circumnavigation Circumnavigation is the complete navigation around an entire island, continent, or astronomical body (e.g. a planet or moon). This article focuses on the circumnavigation of Earth. The first recorded circumnavigation of the Earth was the Mage ...

of the world. She performed this feat in 1988 in her yacht ''Blackmores First Lady'', taking 189 days.

Personal life

Born Kay McLaren, the youngest of four daughters, in Sydney on 25 January 1954, Cottee grew up in the southern Sydney suburb of Sans Souci. She was born into a yachting family and was taken sailing for the first time when only a few weeks old. For secondary schooling, she attended Moorefield Girls High School in

Kogarah, New South Wales Kogarah () is a suburb of Southern Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Kogarah is located 14 kilometres (9 miles) south-west of the Sydney central business district and is considered to be the centre of the St George, New South ...

. Over the next nine years Cottee moved to Pittwater where she built a yacht and established a bareboat charter business. Cottee now lives in Yamba on the far NSW north coast with television producer husband Peter Sutton. She is an international motivational speaker, boat builder, writer, painter and sculptor.

Solo circumnavigation

On 5 June 1988 at age 34, Cottee became the first woman to sail round the world alone non-stop and unassisted when she sailed through the heads of Sydney harbour. She was greeted by tens of thousands of well-wishers. Cottee had left the harbour 189 days earlier, on 29 November 1987. The historic voyage on her 37 ft yacht ''Blackmores First Lady'' was also the fastest sailing trip around the world by a woman and the first solo, non-stop and unassisted voyage around the world by a woman. In the

Southern Ocean The Southern Ocean, also known as the Antarctic Ocean, comprises the southernmost waters of the World Ocean, generally taken to be south of 60° S latitude and encircling Antarctica. With a size of , it is regarded as the second-small ...

, Cottee's boat was knocked down continuously and she was washed overboard. When Cottee rounded Cape Horn, the southernmost tip of South America, she celebrated with a lunch of crab, mayonnaise and self baked bread, and a bottle of Grange, a prestigious Australian wine. Cottee and her major sponsor Blackmores Limited used the voyage to raise over $1M for the Rev. Ted Noffs' Life Education Program. Cottee also undertook an 18-month national schools tour, speaking to over 40,000 senior high school students, imparting the message you can achieve your dreams if you work steadily towards them.

Awards

Since her round the world trip, Kay Cottee has received numerous accolades. * In 1988, Cottee received the Australian of the Year Award. * In January 1989, Cottee was appointed an Officer of the

Order of Australia The Order of Australia is an honour that recognises Australian citizens and other persons for outstanding achievement and service. It was established on 14 February 1975 by Elizabeth II, Queen of Australia, on the advice of the Australian Gov ...

. * Cottee is also the first Australian recipient of the Cutty Sark Medal presented by

Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh (born Prince Philip of Greece and Denmark, later Philip Mountbatten; 10 June 1921 – 9 April 2021) was the husband of Queen Elizabeth II. As such, he served as the consort of the British monarch from E ...

. * Cottee was also made a Paul Harris Fellow by Rotary and an International Honorary Zontion by Zonta International *Inaugural inductee of the Australian Sailing Hall of Fame in 2017

Other achievements

Australian National Maritime Museum

In 1991, Cottee joined the advisory board of the

Australian National Maritime Museum The Australian National Maritime Museum (ANMM) is a federally operated maritime museum in Darling Harbour, Sydney. After considering the idea of establishing a maritime museum, the federal government announced that a national maritime museum wou ...

. She was chair of the museum from 1995 until 2001. In 2000, ''Blackmores First Lady'', was acquired by the museum and placed on permanent display.

Publications

Cottee is the author of two books. Her first book, ''First Lady'', was published by Macmillan in 1989. Her second book, ''All at Sea on Land'', was published by Pan Macmillan in 1998, about her life in the ten years since the voyage.