Success Stories of Growing Female Participation in Sailing
by Mark Jardine 16 Sep 10:00 PDT
Race 6 - IRL 3892 after the start on day 4 of the 2025 Flying Fifteen Worlds at the WPNSA © Mark Jardine
It's been an incredible summer of sailing in the UK, and one of the highlights for me has been talking with competitors at major events, learning how they started sailing, what they love most about the sport, and their visions for the future.
These conversations, together with the thousands that I have each year with sailors from around the world by email and WhatsApp, coupled with those at boat shows, give a unique insight into the health of sailing, the positives and negatives of different approaches, and generally the good and the bad of how things are, compared to how they used to be.
What I find staggering is the sheer number of strategies which are being tried, and that one size certainly doesn't fit all scenarios. Everyone I talk to wants to see sailing grow; some have a very clear idea of what should be done, while others bemoan a decline in their particular class without doing much about it. There are examples of clubs, classes and events getting it right, with a subsequent growth in attendance, and others getting it very wrong.
The 2025 Flying Fifteen World Championship, held at the Weymouth & Portland National Sailing Academy, had one of the best atmospheres that I've seen at an event in a long while. The class has managed to marry top-level competition with a really fun ethos, which has led to sailors staying in the fleet for the long-term, and lifelong friendships made.
The boat itself has stood the test of time - having been designed by the great Uffa Fox back in 1948 - thanks to a number of tweaks to the ergonomics which have transformed the boat handling over the years. The Fifteen loves the waves, bridges the gap between keelboats and dinghies, and has a tweaky rig which always has another setting to find.
Sailors who may have enjoyed high performance dinghies are particularly drawn to its performance and handling, but I was fascinated to find out how some of the female sailors in the fleet got involved in the class.
The longevity of a sailing career is one of the unique selling points of the sport. I know of sailors aged between 3 and 93, with competition possible into old age. The vast majority of other sports have a limited age window, so helping people transition from a sport they're retiring from and into sailing seems a logical, if not initially obvious way to bring people into our sport.
Helen Selden is a Flying Fifteen sailor in the UK who did exactly this 16 years ago, so I wanted to find out more about her pathway into sailing:
"I used to be a rower before I was a sailor, and I decided to retire in 2009. My old rowing coach had started sailing Flying Fifteens at Datchet Water, said there was a guy that needed a crew and asked if I wanted to have a go. I did explain to him that the last time I was in a sailing boat was when I was eight years old in a Topper, and then I took up rowing. That guy was John Hason, and saw that I couldn't sail for toffee, but had a good attitude, and could work with that; now here we are five World Championships later!"
I was interested as to whether Helen found the sailing community welcoming, and how it compared to rowing at competitions:
"Rowing is a very different sport. When you turn up to a competition, you do not talk to other competitors, as you are in the zone, and it's all about the psychological advantage. In the sailing world, if you've got a problem, people help you out. If you want to have a chat about something and work out how to do it, people are there to help you. It's a very, very different sport, and I've loved it for that. It's been brilliant."
Hearing comments like that from sailors is incredibly heartening, and does demonstrate how a welcoming attitude can be so positive. Proactively targeting other sports and offering chances to sail when their time in that sport is coming to an end will result in people joining who are naturally wanting to compete. How many times have we heard of helms and owners needing crew, and are just looking for someone keen and willing to learn? This would seem to be a very target-rich environment, and would mean we aren't just robbing sailors from other classes to fill our own fleet.
Emma Pierce sails at Strangford Lough Yacht Club and Ballyholme Yacht Club in Ireland, with her crew Ian Smyth, and likes how adaptable the Flying Fifteen is:
"I like how adjustable everything is. Coming into the fleet from Lasers (ILCAs), where you essentially have what you're given, in the Fifteen it's easier to customise it. We're quite a light combination, and there are things we can do to the boat setup to make us go well in heavy airs and compete with the heavier crews. On top of that, I think it's quite a tactical boat, with a lot of options downwind due to the symmetric spinnaker, and the standard of the fleet is high - they don't give anything away for free, especially at events like this!"
Emma was another sailor who came into the sport relatively late:
"I only started sailing when I was 16, around 7 or 8 years ago. The British and Irish fleets have been wonderful and have made me feel very, very welcome."
Philippa Packer is a sailor from Western Australia, sailing out of the Royal Freshwater Bay Yacht Club with crew Dean Mcaullay. She's been sailing Flying Fifteens since 1983, and so has seen the evolution of the boat over nearly 40 years, and how it has stayed relevant:
"I had been sailing all sorts of things from Itchenor in West Sussex. I had a Mirror, a Firefly, and then I moved into Swallows and then Darings where I met my previous husband over in Cowes. When I first moved to Western Australia back in 1987, I looked at the boats to sail, and the Flying Fifteen had a huge fleet at that stage, as it wasn't that long after the first World Championship that had been held in Fremantle in 1979 with a huge fleet. Personally, I think it's the most fantastic boat for a girl to sail - a girl of advancing years I have to say - but not exclusively if you're getting older, because I met somebody in the changing rooms the other day who thought it might be ideal for her daughter."
The camaraderie is a huge draw of the fleet, and as we heard from Helen is a major plus point for sailing as sport, and Philippa was in full agreement:
"The good thing about the Flying Fifteen fleet is the fact that when you go to a World Championship, you'll know half the people there; half the boats sailing will be people that you've met at previous championships. A quarter will be the locals, and another quarter will be the newbies, and hopefully that's some of the younger generation. The boat is a huge amount of fun, but probably even more fun off the water than on the water."
When it comes to the updates to the boat, Philippa thought the class association had got it right, thanks to how the modernisations had been implemented:
"I think that the hull shape is still the vital thing, which has remained exactly the same, and that's the important part about having a One Design class. But yes, things have changed and evolved. We've got the two pole system, which actually makes it much easier for driving, and various other little tweaks and twiddles, but the basics of the class have remained, which is fantastic.
"The class is nearly 80 years old. It was a great design by Uffa Fox in the first place, created so that the hull could go on the roof of a car and the keel could come off and go into the boot. It was a practical design at the time and has remained relevant. It's a very forgiving little boat to sail, a great boat for girls to sail, and everybody has fun, because it's not an Olympic class.
"We're here for the enjoyment of it. We're not here to necessarily win, although there are some very good people that get into it. We've travelled around the world specifically to be here for this regatta, and we're all planning to go to Hong Kong for the next Worlds, and I'm sure I'll see the same faces there as well."
So a welcoming nature combined with fun on and off the water works. Seems obvious doesn't it? Sailing can thrive by being the friendly and fun sport which invites people in when other opportunities end for them, and the Flying Fifteens seem to be getting it right with high attendances at their championships, as well as some big club fleets around the world.
Megan Thornley sails at Ullswater, which is home to a decently-sized club fleet of Flying Fifteens, and first sailed one when she was 8 years old:
"I first sailed with my dad up on Lake Windermere, and I'm now 26 and still sailing with him! It's just a nice way to spend time together. I'm crewing, but I have helmed as well; I just couldn't helm enough of the qualifiers this time to qualify, so dad qualified as a helm. We've got between 15 and 25 boats up at Ullswater, and we try to coordinate so we're out at the same time. We try to prioritise the island races, like the Lord Birkett Trophy, eight miles up and the lake and back, which is really good fun."
The World Championship was a really good opportunity for the female sailors to get together and chat about their own sailing which Megan really appreciated:
"Normally there's maybe two or three of us at a UK Nationals, so it's been really nice to turn up and get to meet everyone from all the different countries, especially the New Zealand girls as there are a lot of them. It's nice to see some female helms, because I know when I've helmed at the Nationals I've been the only female helm, so it's definitely nice to see."
Perceptions are a powerful thing and, rightly or wrongly, the Flying Fifteen is sometimes regarded as an 'old man's boat'. There are certainly older sailors in the fleet, which as I've touched on is one of the huge positives of the sport but, as demonstrated here, there is also the younger generation in the class, so any pigeonholing isn't correct. It does go to show how the tone of marketing is so important.
Coverage of events, such as the Flying Fifteen Worlds this year, is an area I'm looking to do more and more in 2026 and beyond, so please do get in contact by email () if you'd like to discuss options for your event. Unearthing the stories within each fleet is fascinating, and continues to build the picture of how sailing can grow, which continues to be my passion.
Mark Jardine
Sail-World.com and YachtsandYachting.com Managing Editor