‘Mighty Mary’ Has an Alexandria Connection—Thanks to a Tip From France

A Zebra volunteer in France sent a very Alexandria note home this week: a new documentary about the first all-women’s sailing team to contend for the America’s Cup is playing at AMC Hoffman Center 22—and one of the women at its center once lived on Lee Street in Old Town.

That woman is Linda Lindquist Bishop, a trailblazing sailor, leadership consultant and former Alexandrian whose story is featured in Mighty Mary: Rock the Boat, the new documentary about a group of women who entered one of sports’ most rarified and male-dominated competitions in 1995.

Today, Lindquist Bishop is president of Courageous Thinking Inc., a leadership consultancy, and continues to sail while mentoring women leaders.

Watch the Trailer

Lindquist Bishop did not grow up imagining the America’s Cup was in her future.

“I started sailing in this tiny lake in northern Michigan,” she said in a Sept. 5 CBS Saturday Morning interview with filmmaker Mary Mazzio. “One thing led to the other, and the America’s Cup was never in my sight.”

Then came the unexpected opportunity: an all-women’s team was being assembled to compete at the sport’s highest level. More than 700 women applied; just 23 were selected. When Lindquist Bishop learned she had made the team, she said, “I jumped up and down and screamed a lot. It was something I never dreamed possible.”

More Than a Sailing Story

The film follows the women of Mighty Mary as they take on the America’s Cup establishment, which had long been a men’s world. The team included accomplished sailors, Olympic athletes and women who had to prove not only their physical strength but their ability to work as one highly coordinated crew.

That part, Lindquist Bishop said, was critical.

“You can’t have 16 individual athletes,” she told CBS. “You have to have that combination of people to come together.”

The women were put through rigorous training and deliberately uncomfortable team exercises, she said, designed to see how they would handle “adversity and crisis and conflict.” In other words: this was not a ladies’ sailing outing with matching visors. This was elite competition.

Mazzio, an award-winning filmmaker and former Olympic rower, knew some of the women from her own 1992 Olympic team. Several became “grinders” on Mighty Mary—the sailors whose punishing work helps manage the boat’s enormous sails. She knew exactly how strong they were.

An Audacious Dream

The film, narrated by Elizabeth Banks and Hugh Jackman, has already attracted attention beyond the sailing world. Oprah Daily called it “every bit as thrilling as the best sports movies.” Zebra Arts Editor Kelly MacConomy believes the documentary could generate some real awards-season conversation.

But the reason to see it may be best expressed by Lindquist Bishop herself.

“Something may look so remote,” she said. “You can have this audacious dream, you can feel like an imposter, you can feel like you don’t belong. But good things can happen when you just try.”

Not bad advice from someone who once lived on Lee Street—and helped make history on the water.

Editor’s note: Lindquist Bishop is listed among the featured Mighty Mary team members on the film’s official website. The film’s official site identifies AMC Hoffman Center 22 as its Alexandria theater.