Steering the Course global women's sailing festival gets underway in the Southern Hemisphere

Steering the Course, World Sailing's global women's sailing festival © World Sailing

The Southern Hemisphere edition of Steering the Course, World Sailing's global women's sailing festival started Friday. Following the success of the first edition in the Northern Hemisphere in May, it is now the turn of countries, classes and sailing clubs in the South to showcase the opportunities within sailing and introduce more women and girls to the sport.

The Northern Hemisphere edition saw over 20 MNAs take part in activities over a ten-day period, including increased uptake in applications for national events and sailing lessons long after the festival came to a close.

Events have already been organised in Australia, Brazil, Chile, Chinese Taipei, Greece, New Zealand, South Africa, St Kitts and Nevis, and Uruguay between today and Sunday 10 October 2021.

More nations are expected to host events in the coming weeks as countries unite to promote women's sailing across all classes from dinghies to keelboats and windsurfing to kiteboarding.

Australian Sailing is hosting the inaugural National SheSails Leadership Conference to be held on Wednesday 6 October via Microsoft Teams. The Webinar is open to Australian Sailing members and non-members by registering here.

Sailing clubs in Chinese Taipei will be holding taster sessions in Optimist and Keelboat classes while Have a Go sessions are organised in Greece now that Covid restrictions have eased and allow greater participation.

Yacht Club Uruguay is hosting five days of activities beginning with a launch event featuring a Q&A with four female sailors from the national team. There will also be a webinar on 'The role of the family in support of the female sailor', a workshop on female coaches held in conjunction with the organisation 'Mujeres al Timón' (Women at the Helm), and sessions for girls aged 8-15 to bring a friend and sail on an Optimist boat together, females over 16 to spend a day with the coaches or have a sailing lesson in a Hunter 160 or J/24.

Alongside physical events, the fast-growing eSailing platform will also allow many more people engage with the sport virtually.

The Steering the Course eSailing Offshore Challenge starts on 1 October for a virtual race from Sydney to Fiji. Almost 8000 skippers have signed up and, for the first time at an eSailing event, there will be more female skippers than male.

Virtual Regatta is available to download and play for free on Desktop, iOS and Android.

A Leading Women in Sailing Panel discussion will be held on Monday 4 October. It will be streamed live on YouTube as Megan Kensington, World Sailing Race Official from New Zealand, and Samoan head coach and President of the Samoa Sailing Association, Raema von Reiche, discuss their careers, how the pathway helped them and offer expert advice on how to get started in the sport.

Olympic gold medallist, Shirley Robertson OBE will host a World Sailing Trust Discussion panel on 'Equity & Inclusion in Sailing' on Thursday 7 October, a continuation of the panel held in May.

If you are taking part in an event during Steering the Course, share your photos and videos with us on social media using the hashtag #SteeringTheCourse and tag @worldsailingofficial on Facebook and Instagram and @worldsailing on Twitter. You can even send your content to us directly by emailing . We will share your content with our followers!

To get involved in an event or organise your own event, please contact for more information.