In June 2002, the British sailor Abby Seager stepped off a 60-foot sailboat she had just raced around the world in the Volvo Ocean Race, hoping to have paved the way for professional women’s ocean racing.

Enduring professional sailing teams and events have grown twofold in the decade since that race, but there had not been an all-female team since then until Team SCA signed up for this year’s edition of the Volvo Ocean Race, a 38,789-nautical-mile around-the-world event.

Seager, now Abby Ehler, and her crewmates Carolijn Brouwer and Liz Wardley are the only women on the team who have competed in a Volvo race before, but sponsors and team managers have invested in the goal of creating a competitive women’s team with a long legacy. SCA is only the fifth all-female team to compete in the 40-year history of the event, formerly known as the Whitbread Round the World Race.

“For sure we didn’t come into this expecting to be on the podium,” Ehler said in a recent video call from the boat while sailing north through the Indian Ocean on Leg 2 of the race. “This is a steppingstone. SCA’s commitment is unbelievable. We have been training for almost two years, and our physical conditioning is far better than 14 years ago.”