This is me
Hi, I’m Mara.
My real name is Helga Marie, but here I go by Mara.
I’m a Norwegian sailor, former athlete, and someone who has never been very good at staying inside boxes.
For the past years, my life has revolved around the sea. Living on a sailboat, moving with the weather, learning patience the hard way, and slowly realising that the ocean has a way of stripping things back to what actually matters.
As one chapter came to an end, a new question started to sit with me: what’s next?
Not in a dramatic way. More like a quiet pull I couldn’t ignore.
That’s where the Golden Globe Race entered the picture.
It’s a solo, non-stop race around the world, sailed with minimal technology, demanding resilience, self-reliance, and a willingness to be uncomfortable for a long time. It has type 2 fun written all over it. And if there’s one thing I know about myself, it’s that I’m very much a type 2 fun kind of person.
What came next
But this journey isn’t just about a race.
For a long time, sailing at this level has looked a certain way. And when you don’t see yourself reflected, it’s easy to believe you don’t belong. I want to challenge that quietly, simply by showing up as myself.
Colorful dresses on a boat.
Being feminine and strong at the same time.
Not trying to blend in to be taken seriously.
I can’t represent everyone. But I can show that you don’t have to look a certain way to do something big. You don’t have to become someone else to belong.
More than a race
That’s why I share the journey.
I share the preparation, the refits, the planning, the doubts, the excitement, the moments where things don’t go as planned, and the ones where everything clicks. I share what it’s like to live on a boat, to train in an ever-changing environment, to be nervous, to be excited, and to keep going anyway.
This is not a highlight reel.
It’s the process.
The process, not the polish
If, by following along, someone feels a little more permission to try something that scares them, to take up space, or to stop waiting until they “fit the mold”, then this journey becomes bigger than just me.
This is Mara.
And this is the beginning of the next adventure.
