Maggie Shea

Maggie Shea grew up sailing on Lake Michigan with her family on her Grampa John Nedeau’s Windancer. While sailing with her family, cousins and grandparents, she fell in love with being on the water and competing. Maggie learned to race on Laser Radials and 420’s in Chicago Yacht Club's junior sailing program. During high school, Maggie was captain of the New Trier Sailing team.

Maggie then sailed for Connecticut College where, as a team captain, she led her team to a 2nd place finish at ICSA Women’s Nationals and a 4th place finish at Women’s Singlehanded Nationals. She was also recognized as an All-American Honorable mention in 2009, NEISA Sportswoman of the Year in 2011, and received the Connecticut College Brooks-Brown Award for outstanding leadership, scholarship, and sportsmanship. Maggie graduated in 2011 with a BA in Political Science.

After college, Maggie continued racing professionally in the match racing circuit. Maggie worked at Chicago Match Race Center, which was her stepping stone into the professional sailing industry. Steph and Maggie fielded a team for the Olympic Trials in the women’s match racing class and a team for the Women’s International Match Racing Series.

• Steph, Maggie & teammate, Darby Smith, finished 4th at the 2012 Olympic Trials

• won a bronze medal at the ISAF Women’s Match Racing World Championships

• won the overall Women’s Match Racing Series in 2014 - Maggie played both roles as the tactician (primarily) and skipper at one of the 4 WIMSeries events

• Maggie also won both the U.S. Match Racing Championship in 2012 and 2014 and the U.S. Women’s Match Racing Championship in 2012 and 2014, in total crewing for four different skippers

Maggie also crewed for Sally Barkow’s Team Magenta 32, the first-ever all-women’s team to compete on the World Match Racing Tour. She was on board when the team finished 3rd at the North American Championships in 2017. In 2017, Maggie was named as a finalist nominee for the US Sailing’s 2017 Rolex Yachtswoman of the Year.  

Maggie has been racing the 49erFX since 2013 with various teammates, but Steph and Maggie have been on the 49erFX campaign trail together since 2016. Steph and Maggie won the US Olympic Trials in February 2020, and they finished 11th in the Tokyo 2020 Olympics. 

In 2020, Maggie was elected by her teammates to be the Sailing Representative for the USOPC Athletes Advisory Council. She also serves as a director on the Board of Directors of US Sailing, and is a member of the Sailor Athlete Council. Athlete activism and involvement in the governance are hugely important to Maggie, and she is grateful for the chance to give back to the sport she loves so much.