SAILING HANNAH

I stood on the main stage at the Dinghy Show this weekend talking about Pathways to Success, and as I looked across at our Para Inclusive athletes, Lucy, Logan, Rory, Kirsten and Murray, it felt like a glimpse of what our sport looks like when we stop talking about inclusion and start living it.

What we showed on that stage wasn’t tokenistic and it wasn’t inspirational fluff. It was normal. Youth World Champions and Para Inclusive sailors sharing one platform, one standard, one ambition. The hunger is the same. The professionalism is the same. The expectation to win is the same.

That’s what inclusion looks like when it stops being decorative and becomes structural.

We are good at participation in sailing. We are good at Sailability sessions, open days and getting people afloat. And that matters. First experiences matter. Bums on seats matter. Access matters.

But participation is step one. It is not the finish line.

We have to stop acting like access is a gift. Sailing is not something we “allow” disabled people to do. It is not a controlled experience we hand out before quietly deciding how far someone can go. That mindset, however well intentioned, limits ambition before it even begins.

Participation without progression is containment.

And some parts of our system are far more comfortable containing than enabling. It is easier to host a session than to back a campaign. Easier to post a photo than to commit funding. Easier to say “we support inclusion” than to actively remove barriers to racing, selection and performance.

If inclusion only operates at entry level, it protects comfort instead of building pathways.

The sailors on that stage do not need comfort. They need opportunity. They need racing. They need coaching, boat time, funding and belief. They need a system that assumes they belong, not one that cautiously tests whether they are ready.

If we are serious about reopening the final door back to the Paralympics, the pathway cannot stall at participation. It must continue. It must deepen. It must become visible and undeniable.

And here’s the part I won’t soften.

I have put my entire soul into this job. Every difficult conversation. Every structural push. Every challenge to language that keeps people small. Every late night building frameworks, events and strategies that make progression real.

I don’t need more nice words about how important this is.

I need action that matches it.

I need hands on my back. I need hands on the backs of our sailors. I need clubs, classes and leaders to move from “we support” to “we are doing.”

Imagine WSIC in October if every sailing club in countries around the world supported just one Para sailor. One fundraiser. One block of boat time. One sponsored entry. One tangible commitment to progression.

The numbers would change. The visibility would grow. The belief would compound. The pathway would strengthen overnight.

This is not theoretical. It is entirely achievable.

The talent is here. The structure is here. The ambition is here.

We are ready. Let’s show it.