Katie Pettibone
Katie Pettibone was born and raised in Port Huron, Michigan. She grew up in a family of sailors racing around the Great Lakes and surrounding areas. Katie attended University of Miami, FL in 1991 where she received a degree in biology with a marine science specialty. It was in her junior year she tried out and was chosen for Bill Koch’s historic first ever all women’s team to compete in the 1995 America’s Cup on Mighty Mary.
Katie continued to race professionally, competing in the 1997-1998 Whitbread Around the World Race on Team EF Education, the 2000 America’s Cup Team America True in Auckland New Zealand and then to the next Around the World Race- the newly named Volvo Ocean Race on Amer Sports Too.
In between events, Katie went to law school in Sacramento, CA and became licensed to practice law in California and Washington D.C. Katie then went on to compete in the 2007 America’s Cup in Valencia, Spain with the French Team Areva Challenge. Katie’s racing experience also includes top-level regattas in many parts of the world, the classic Sydney-Hobart race and the Tour de France la Voile.
She currently works as a lobbyist in Sacramento, while working to build the Rising Tide Leadership Institute and its efforts to encourage women to compete in sailing in far-reaching parts of the world, including the Middle East.
161: Katie Pettibone, part 1: Americas Cups, 81-foot waves, and protecting the oceans
Katie continues the line of world class sailing champions who have translated their athletic success to leadership in their sport, business, and beyond.
What success? How about three America’s Cups, including being the youngest member of the first ever all-female boat, two around the world races, as well the famed Sydney Hobart and Worrell 1000 Extreme Catamaran Races.
She’s also a lawyer and is president of the Rising Tide Leadership Institute.
She just got back from Olympic racing in Miami, which followed placing second in the Sydney Hobart race, sponsored by Ocean Respect Racing, who promotes reducing pollution.
We talk about seeing plastic in the remote ocean as well as in much greater density closer to shore, especially America’s shores. Around the world sailors see parts of our planet farthest from human establishment. Sadly, I’ve found it’s a standard response that they’ve all seen plastic human junk however remote they’ve traveled.
She also describes waves towering over her boat’s 81-foot mast—that is, higher than an 8-storey building. How would you like an 8-storey building crashing around you?
Staying calm in a situation like that sounds like a tall order, but what you want in a leader.
Read the transcript.