Skip to main content
Advanced Search
Image Not Available for Solar shower from BLACKMORES FIRST LADY
Solar shower from BLACKMORES FIRST LADY
Image Not Available for Solar shower from BLACKMORES FIRST LADY

Solar shower from BLACKMORES FIRST LADY

Maker
Datec 1987
Object number00033170
NameSolar shower
MediumPlastic, cord
DimensionsOverall: 470 x 302 mm, 5 mm
ClassificationsClothing and personal items
Credit LineANMM Collection
DescriptionSolar shower manufactured by Capex from BLACKMORES FIRST LADY. Used by Kay Cottee during her voyage in 1987- 88 when she became the first woman to sail alone around the world non-stop and unassisted.HistoryBLACKMORES FIRST LADY was the yacht sailed by Kay Cottee AO on her voyage around the world in 1987-1988, when she became the first woman to complete a circumnavigation as a solo, non-stop and unassisted passage. The stock design was modified by Cottee herself with the intention of undertaking this challenge. The yacht was acquired by the Australian National Maritime Museum in 2000 and returned to its arrangement for the voyage, then put on display inside the museum in the Watermarks Gallery. BLACKMORES FIRST LADY's record making voyage spanned 6 months, leaving Sydney on the 29th of November 1987 and returning on the 5th of June 1988. As she crossed the line inside the harbour marking the completion of the voyage Cottee was surrounded by well-wishers aboard a vast number of vessels who had come out to cheer her home, including a fire tug creating a huge fountain of water. It was a yet another cause for celebration as part of the country's Bicentennial year, and gained her national and international recognition. Kay Cottee came from a sailing family, the Mclarens, and sailed many miles with them aboard their home built Tasman Seabird yacht JOY TOO. After leaving school she continued to be involved with yachts as an owner and builder, and then with her own charter business based at Pittwater, north of Sydney.SignificanceBLACKMORES FIRST LADY was the yacht sailed by Kay Cottee when she became the first woman to sail alone around the world non-stop, in a voyage that took in both hemispheres to qualify as an official circumnavigation. The yacht illustrates the technical and personal preparations Cottee made to take herself and the yacht around the world. As her refuge, home and saviour, the yacht captures Kay Cottee's daily life experienced alone at sea, including the mundane and extraordinary.