Be more shark - Wildwind ILCA Women's Clinic 2026 creates predators
by Lenora Cannon 17 Jun 06:23 PDT
Wildwind ILCA Women's Clinic in Vassiliki © Ben Roberts
Vassiliki, Greece, is famous for its clockwork conditions. Every summer afternoon, like a reliable training partner, 'Eric' arrives. This local thermal cross-shore wind builds smoothly from a gentle morning breeze into a punchy 20-25 knots, offering the perfect high-octane test track for experienced sailors looking to push their limits.
It was the ideal setting for ten of us heading out for the recent ILCA Women's Clinic at Wildwind.
This was the second time the venue and its charismatic head coach, Maartje van Dam, have hosted this all-female intensive. It is a vital international node of the broader ILCA Women's Coaching Programme, an initiative originally born at Queen Mary Sailing Club with the backing of their ILCA fleet.
To date, the programme has delivered over a thousand participant days of women's coaching, racking up a serious haul of club and circuit prizes along the way.
But this week wasn't just about the physical mechanics of sailing. It was about rewiring a mindset.
The Bravery Gap
Like so many women who love sailing, many of us have a habit of underestimating our ability. It turns out we are not alone. The organisers of the ILCA Women's Programme noticed this exact theme right at the start of the initiative: women consistently underestimate their talent, while men always believe they are far more capable than they actually are. We're told from a young age that girls should be perfect, while boys are taught to be brave.
In a tactical sport like dinghy racing, that cultural hangover means we often don't get as much out of the sport—or reach our true potential—because we wait until we feel flawless before we feel ready to "give it a go."
Maartje van Dam has packed a lot into her 26 years, sailing with the Dutch national team, studying and racing at collegiate level in Jacksonville, Florida, and coaching across the Mediterranean. She recognised this exact same confidence gap on the start line, proving it's a universal problem. To smash through it, she uses a wonderfully kooky coaching metaphor, challenging us to choose between being a 'marshmallow' or a 'shark'.
"A marshmallow is soft and polite," Maartje explains. "In sailing terms, a marshmallow ducks a port-tacker because they are hesitant, giving away their rightful water. A shark is an assertive predator. Being a shark means holding your position, trusting the rules, believing in your ability, and hunting down the competition."
Mastering the Basics
We spent our mornings nailing the core techniques in the lighter breezes. The goal was simple: build total consistency to give us the confidence to execute when the Eric dropped the hammer.
Morning briefings focused on the details: aggressive hiking, rapid gust response, and putting massive trust in our controls. Who knew the kicker could actually be pulled on that hard? On the water, we focused on smooth mark roundings, low-speed boat handling, and perfecting our roll tacks and gybes before the heavy stuff arrived.
Our debriefs were loud, funny, and entirely free of judgement, especially when video sessions captured the inevitable clumsy capsize. It created a safe space where no question was deemed silly, and mistakes were treated as data, not failures.
By mastering the mechanics in the morning, we felt entirely ready when 'Eric' delivered his afternoon 25-knot sweet spot.
The Shark Attack
The proof came on race day, when we lined up against the broader, mixed fleet in Vasiliki.
In the past, a crowded, aggressive start line might have triggered our inner 'marshmallow'. Not this time. Throughout the starting sequences, our change in body language was absolute. Our lines were tight, positions were held with genuine grit, and rights-of-way were claimed loudly and clearly. We weren't backing off for anyone.
The climax of the week arrived when one of our ILCA women perfectly executed her strategy, held her line, hunted down the fleet, and crossed the line to take the overall win—cheered on by a team of newfound sharks. The victory beer tasted exceptionally sweet.
A final Friday session using drone footage to dissect mark-room rights provided a professional close to a high-performance week. The ten of us didn't just return to our UK home clubs with sharper boat handling; we returned with a shift in perspective. On start lines across the country this summer, expect to see a lot less politeness — and a lot more shark.
Future events
The ILCA Women's Coaching Programme is running at King George SC on 27th June with Programme Lead Georgina Povall, Pennine SC on 18th July with Clemmie Thompson and then on the 26th July at Grafham Water SC with George. Book on the relevant club website.
For more dates go to portal.ilca.uk/events
For more information or if your club would like to host a Women's Coaching event, email