Congratulations to Ingrid Bakker who was the first woman skipper to finish the Great Texas! Ingrid hails from the Netherlands and sailed with Great Texas veteran crew Aaron McCulley. They had to overcome some challenges to get to the finish but they did it.

The day before the race, their Nacra Infusion suffered major hull damage when the seam in the bottom of the boat split. The boat could not be used in that condition and a replacement boat was found for her - Shannon Galway gave her his Hobie Tiger. Unfortunately, the boat was in Houston and a relay team was put together to get the boat quickly down to South Padre. They managed to get the boat and get it set up just in time for the start.

The first day was a bit tough for Ingrid as they suffered a pitch pole. The boat turtled and they had a hard time getting it back up. They also had problems with rudders kicking up.

Once they got the problems fixed with the rudders, Ingrid started to do better every day. By the last day, Ingrid was leading the F18 fleet for most of the last leg. In the end, race winner 2 Wire Sailing, did catch them, but it took most of the day for them to do it.

Ingrid and Aaron managed a 6th place in the regatta.

Ingrid said that the Great Texas is best race she has ever done and she is ready to come back next year!