SAILING HANNAH

Sometimes you only really see progress when you stop long enough to look back.

Standing at Barcolana for the Eurosaf Inclusive Europeans, surrounded by sailors, organisers and volunteers who get it, I felt that rare moment of clarity – the kind that cuts through the noise, the late nights, and the constant “what’s next?” that usually fills my days. Inclusive sailing has come so far. Not just in participation, but in mindset, in visibility, in belief.

Truthfully, it feels a bit vindicating. The long nights, the spreadsheets, the endless calls – they mattered. What we built works. It’s growing, it’s being owned by new nations, and it’s giving opportunities to sailors who once had none.

It’s hard to put into words what it means to see our sport take these steps. When I started down this road, people told me the Inclusive Development Programme (IDP) would never work. Too ambitious. Too complicated. Too much to manage. And yet, here we are: India hosting the second edition of the Asian Inclusive Sailing Series – 50 athletes from 13 countries – born directly out of the IDP model. That’s not theory. That’s real impact. Real people. Real change.

The same goes for the data. People told me we couldn’t gather data by asking or relying on the community. They said it wouldn’t scale. But look at us now – the World Sailing Inclusive Sailing Google Drive grows every day, filled with new submissions, stories, and evidence of global reach. It’s working because the community is making it work. You are making it work. It’s grassroots innovation in action.

Amid the madness, I’ve been lucky to welcome Leo to the team – an absolute breath of fresh air. It’s not easy to let someone in when you’ve been running flat-out for so long, but already I can feel the lift. Having that extra support is a reminder that leadership isn’t doing everything yourself, it’s creating space for others to thrive alongside you. Plus Leo has already created shortcuts for me that have truly changed the game, and has an attitude that matches my own; the GSD kind of human being that I hope I am.

Barcolana also reminded me that it’s okay to pause and take stock – to see the distance we’ve travelled and to be proud of it. Inclusive sailing is no longer a footnote. It’s a headline.

This October is chaos in motion. Events stacked back-to-back, logistics overlapping, inboxes that never sleep. The reality behind the pretty event photos is the unseen grind – hundreds of messages, late-night emails, re-budgeting exercises, chasing entries, coordinating classifications, and fighting fires in real time. That’s the side few see – but it’s the backbone of what makes everything possible.

This job tests me every day. It’s taken a toll at times – physically, mentally, emotionally. But then I see the faces of the sailors at events like Barcolana, or I get a message from India about a young sailor racing for the first time because of the IDP pathway, and I remember why I keep going.

So yes, it’s been a wild ride. It’s exhausting, relentless, sometimes overwhelming. But when I look at how far we’ve come – from an idea on paper to real sailors, real events, and real change – I know this is just the beginning.

Keep the data coming. Keep the belief alive. We’re building something that lasts.