2026!
This season has started strong, with a lot of opportunities for travel (EU day restrictions…) and with that some amazing sailing!
January = Lanzarote & Bermuda
February = Portugal
March = Palma, Mallorca
April = Palma & Portland!
Heading back to Bermuda was amazing and delivered strong winds and big waves almost everyday which was equally great for training and absolutely exhausting. Whilst travelling for sailing is one of the biggest privileges within the sport, at times it becomes overwhelming given the scale of each operation to pack up and transport the boats each time. So this year I decided to settle in Palma for almost a month in the build up for the first major regatta of the year and its been such a luxury to stay in the same place for longer than 3 weeks, the most i’ve stayed somewhere in almost a year!
This season, i’ve also been spending more time pushing for women in sailing, and spreading a bit more insight about what it takes to operate at in a high performance environment and the parallels between that and the wider world. On International Women’s Day I was invited to coach a group of women at Queen Mary SC with a group diverse in age and ability. Creating these spaces for women has had a far greater impact than I would have imagined, it brings a greater sense of togetherness and the opportunity to open questions up that maybe before would have slipped below the radar because of uncertainty or assumed knowledge. The women were super keen to advance their knowledge and whilst aware of gaps between them and men within the fleet, they were undeterred in their desire for fun and to sail! Days like this make me feel lucky to be in an environment where women support each other.
A few days later, I headed to a lunch panel discussion with Cripps, the law firm that’s sponsoring me! Questions centred around the theme of international women’s day this year, ‘give to get’ and in answering it allowed me to realise just how important the spheres of influence are around us as individuals, and how these become even more critical in higher gravity situations.
