SAILING HANNAH

It’s Sunday night.

I’ve been working. Again.

Not because anyone has asked me to work on a Sunday night, and I’m certainly not telling you that because I want sympathy. I don’t. There are massive numbers of hours that go into this job that nobody sees, and normally I’m perfectly happy for them to stay unseen.

But tonight I opened my inbox, saw another country potentially disappearing from the World Sailing Inclusion Championships, and something in me snapped.

So this isn’t a sympathy post.

It’s a scream for help.

We have spent years saying we want sailing back in the Paralympic Games. We say we believe in Para sailing. We say inclusion matters. We say we want more nations, more sailors, more opportunities and a genuinely global sport.

Great.

Then get your fucking hands on some sheets.

Because right now it feels like an awful lot of people are sitting in the boat, watching, talking about where we’d all like it to go, while assuming that one person at World Sailing is somehow going to pull every rope, trim every sail, find every sailor, source every boat, raise every penny, persuade every federation and get the whole bloody thing across the finish line.

I can’t.

More importantly, I shouldn’t have to.

And this isn’t about me wanting recognition for the hours. I couldn’t care less whether anybody knows I was answering emails at 10pm on a Sunday.

What I care about is what those emails said.

We got 43 countries to the table for Portimão.

Forty-three countries.

Do you have any idea how hard that was?

Because those entries didn’t just appear when we published a Notice of Race. They represent months of calls, messages, funding, development programmes, visa letters, classification, coaches, boats, charters, flights, accommodation and persuasion.

Every time someone has told me why they can’t come, I’ve tried to solve it.

No boat? Let’s find one.

Can’t afford it? Let’s find support.

Need coaching? Come to the IDP.

Need classification? We’ll organise it.

Federation not supporting you? Give me the contact.

Visa problem? I’ll write the letter.

Again and again and again: tell me the barrier and I’ll try to knock the bloody thing down.

And we got to 43 countries.

For a sport that isn’t currently in the Paralympic Games.

That’s not a nice number for a press release.

That’s evidence.

It’s evidence that this sport is global. That sailors want it. That nations are participating. That development is working. That there is an international community worth investing in and a future worth fighting for.

And now, less than three weeks before the Championship, I’m watching flags disappear.

Jamaica.

Brunei.

St Vincent and the Grenadines.

Brazil.

Potentially China.

Different circumstances. Different reasons. And this is emphatically not an attack on individual sailors, particularly those dealing with injury or circumstances outside their control.

But I am going to call out the bigger problem.

We cannot keep saying we support Para sailing and then leave somebody else to actually do it.

We cannot say we want a strong future for Para sailing and then shrug when a country disappears from one of the most important opportunities we have to demonstrate international participation.

We cannot talk endlessly about inclusion while boats sit unused, sailors go unsupported and federations decide something else is more important.

And we absolutely cannot assume that somebody else will sort it.

Because who the fuck is somebody else?

Is it me?

Because I am trying.

Jesus Christ, I am trying.

I’ve worked my nuts off for this Championship. I’ve chased boats at ridiculous hours, found money where there wasn’t any, begged favours, connected sailors with coaches, pushed federations, written letters, built development programmes and spent more hours than I care to calculate trying to turn “we can’t” into “we’re coming.”

I’ve done that because I would give my left nut – if I had one – to see this succeed.

But I cannot want it enough for everybody.

And World Sailing cannot do it alone.

So this is where I stop being polite about it.

Brazil: help me keep your flag on that start line.

Jamaica: tell me what we can still solve.

China: we’ve committed support. Please show up.

And everybody else?

Get in the fucking boat.

If you’re an MNA, back your sailors.

If you’re an NPC, help them get there.

If you’re a class and you’ve got equipment, offer it.

If you’re a club with a boat sitting ashore, talk to me.

If you’re a coach, coach somebody.

If you’re a sponsor who tells the world how much inclusion matters to you, here’s your opportunity to demonstrate what that actually means.

A real sailor.

A real boat.

A real flight.

A real World Championship.

Do something.

Because I’m terrified that too many of us think somebody else will.

Somebody else will find the money. Somebody else will develop the sailors. Somebody else will lend the boats. Somebody else will persuade the federations. Somebody else will build the pathway. Somebody else will fight the politics.

Somebody else will secure the future of Para sailing.

And I tell you this:

If we all think like that, we’re fucked.

We may as well give up now.

And I am not giving up.

Not remotely.

But I need you to understand that none of this is inevitable. A strong future for Para sailing doesn’t happen just because we all agree that we want one. We have to build it, demonstrate it and fight for it.

This is shit or bust.

This Championship matters.

These sailors matter.

Those 43 flags matter.

And I am going to keep fighting like hell to get every one of them to Portimão.

But for fuck’s sake.

Grab a sheet and help me sail the bloody boat.