17-year-old Quebec skipper to inspire more women in sailing
Posted August 2, 2026 5:14 pm.
Last Updated August 2, 2026 5:45 pm.
At just 17 years old, Quebecer Jasmine Pernot is about to take on the biggest challenge of her sailing career.
On Thursday, she’ll become the youngest skipper of the sailboat Prospector in the inaugural St-Laurent 400 and one of only three women-led crews in the race.
Pernot says she hopes her journey will inspire more young women to take the helm.
“I think we need to have an example of people who actually did it because we don’t see a lot of girls and women do it,” says Pernot.
Pernot discovered the sport about three years ago after enrolling in Femina Youth, a Quebec program that offers free sailing training each year to girls between the ages of 15 and 17.
Pernot will captain a crew of seven in the 400-nautical-mile race starting in Tadoussac, at the mouth of the Saguenay River, and ending at the Magdalen Islands, with teams navigating some of Quebec’s most challenging waters.
For her coach Daniel Bérubé, there is no doubt that Pernot is a natural-born leader.
“One day we were going for a practice, and I had four other crews about her age,” Bérubé recalled.
“She went, ‘OK, girls, let’s go.’ The boat was ready. All I had to do is start the engine and back up. So, I like that she took the lead.”
Pernot was introduced to her coach Daniel Bérubé through the sailing school where she trained, and since then, they often meet at the Deux-Montagnes sailing club, to practice on Bérubé’s sailboat.
Unlike shorter races where crews sail back to shore at the end of the day, this one keeps them out on the water for more than 24 hours straight.
“The race is on the St. Lawrence, which is pretty technical between tides and currents and commercial traffic and you got zones that you have speed limits (due to) whales.”
Despite the odds, Pernot says she is not stressed.
“The race committee really explained it really well on how to navigate there,” she says.
“Before everything, I want my crew to get off the boat and be happy with their race,” she adds. “And if we can do a podium, I will not say no to that.”
