The Whitbread, now called the Volvo Ocean Challenge, is a yacht race that happens every three years.  It began in 1972 when the Whitbread company and the British Royal Naval Sailing Association agreed to sponsor a regatta that circled the globe as a sort of tribute to Brittan’s maritime legacy.  The original course followed routes of 19^th century square riggers and began and ended in England until Volvo became the title sponsor in 2001.  A major leg of the race takes place in the Southern Ocean, usually leaving from South America somewhere and winding up in Australia (that is a long stretch of rough and icy water my friends).

Tracy Edwards did not set out to crush the patriarchy.  One of the clips in the film is an interview where she is mortified by the reporter’s asking if she is a feminist. She was a young girl, with a rough childhood, who discovered and fell in love with yachting.  She first participated in the 1985-86 Whitbread as a cook, the only crew position that she could get. After proving herself in that capacity, she was determined to find a sailing position on a crew.  No one would hire her.  Because she was a girl.  So, she did what any girl with a dream of competing in a man’s world would do, she put together her own program.  Now, saying that yacht racing is an elite sport is putting it mildly and this was not a girl of means. But she was scrappy and frankly, I don’t think that it occurred to her that she shouldn’t be able to compete – from either a status or gender perspective.  I’ll tell you what, in 1989 (and probably the entire 1990’s for that matter) it never occurred to me that any of the challenges that I faced were based on my gender, I really had grown up thinking that women had achieved equality (what a precious, naïve little thing I was).  I get the sense that Tracy Edwards and the crew of intrepid women who she put together all shared that perspective at that time as well.

Maiden finished the race second in their class, an outstanding accomplishment considering all of the obstacles the crew had to overcome (like taking on water) but a bittersweet ending for this highly competitive crew who weren’t just hoping to finish, they were in it to win it.  They also won two of the legs of the race outright, including the brutal Southern Ocean crossing (I think in the film they said that they were at sea for five weeks).  Tracy, the skipper, received the “Yachtsman of the Year” trophy (the first woman to do so).

And then the story ends the way that things did in those days – not with a bang, but a whimper.  They competed and they succeeded and what was next?  Um…the crew of Maiden went their separate ways.  These days, there would be a whole media machine waiting at the dock for those gals to make land – interviews, merchandise, speaking engagements, a foundation dedicated to developing sailing programs for girls, a Netflix original series inspired by…you name it.  But it was a different time.  Tracy did write a book, which was published in 1990 and now has a career as a motivational speaker.

I fully expected that I would be boo-hoo sobbing by the end of the film (like I was at the RBG documentary), but I left that theatre feeling pretty pumped up.  Like if I had a big enough vision, all I’d have to do is bring together the right group of women and we could go out there and just freaking crush it.

I’ll let you know if/when I come up with something, but if anyone reading this has a BHAG that I can sign up to crew for, let me know!

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I'm doing this all on purpose, my purpose, and I'm loving every second! Hope you're following your dreams now and always #Dumplin pic.twitter.com/tUuLuopUGW

Because I follow Dolly Parton on social media (don’t y’all?), I started hearing about a movie called Dumplin’ that was coming out.  Dolly had done the music for the movie.  Ok, done deal, that would be the next movie night for the chick-flick movie bunch.

No, I had no idea what the movie was about.  It didn’t really matter because Dolly was saying to go see it.  Honestly, if there is one public figure who you can trust, it’s Dolly Parton.  I will write more about my deep, abiding love for Dolly another day, but I will tell you now that if you don’t have a great deal of respect and admiration for the woman, it’s only because you don’t know about the many wonderful things that she has done in her life.

Back to Dumplin’. This movie was produced by Jennifer Aniston’s production company and was released on Netflix with only limited theatrical release (so that it would be award-season eligible).  That meant that it was not showing in the greater Long Beach metropolitan area which made organizing a night out for the chick-flick movie bunch a challenge.

Shamelessly, I asked the group if anyone had Netflix and wanted to host us (I don’t have Netflix, I watch too much television already anyway – don’t judge).  La Flaca graciously offered to have us all over to her casita which was an extra treat since we got to enjoy her delightful holiday decorating as well.

It was a really sweet movie about awkward teenagers overcoming awkward teenager issues.  And Dolly hadn’t just provided the music, she also provided an underlying theme.  One of Dolly’s bon mots, “figure out who you are and do it on purpose” sums up the dramatic arc of the film.  I feel like I would like that quote on a t-shirt.

The only dubious element of the movie for me was how normal these teenagers were. I mean, they had after school jobs and drove cars and were responsible for their own participation in the activities that they chose to sign up for.  Sure, we did those things back when we were teenagers, but it doesn’t seem like that’s the way that kids now-a-days go about their business (I think that Mr. Man’s “back in my day” ranting is rubbing off on me).  I liked those parts about being a teenager and it was nice to be reminded of.

I found out later that Dumplin’ was adapted from a book by Julie Murphy.  Usually, if I’m interested in a movie that is based on a book, I will always read the book first.  Often, I tend to stop there.  Books can have a lot of layers that are hard to portray in film.  There are places in this movie that you can tell there is something more to the story.  I think that I will put this book on my reading list so that I can get into all those nooks and crannies.  I’m pretty sure that it will be a fun, quick read.

So, if you have Netflix and you’re in the mood for a sweet movie that will leave you feeling better about life when you’re done, I recommend that you check it out.  Or read the book.  Or both.  Dolly will approve.

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