Where the Industry Leaders Stand on Gender Equality in Yacht Racing

The Yacht Racing Forum returned to Amsterdam with 250 delegates from 26 countries, gathering athletes, CEOs, designers, event directors, and innovators under one roof. As the sport’s leading annual business conference, the Forum is known for shaping the conversations that steer professional sailing forward. This year, gender equality and the conditions required for true inclusion were not side notes. They were central to almost every major discussion.

Below are key takeaways on where the sport stands today, what needs to change, and how leaders believe we get there.

From Tolerance to Belonging

The opening session set a powerful tone for the Forum. Bruno Dubois, Team Manager of the France SailGP Team and the Orient Express America’s Cup Team, opened with a message about culture, leadership and accountability. Instead of speaking about women in the sport, he used his platform to hand the microphone to someone whose voice could speak from experience: rising Kiwi sailor and champion Olivia Mackay. And she delivered. With honesty and clarity, Mackay shared what belonging, bias and performance look like through the eyes of a female athlete working at the highest level. Early in her career, she sailed alongside a male teammate who admitted he had worked with only one other woman, describing that sailor as “difficult, emotional and hard work.” The comment stayed with her. Not because it was malicious, but because it shifted her focus away from performance and toward monitoring her behaviour.

Today she is strategist for the Black Foils, yet the lessons remain. She pointed to the everyday barriers athletes still face: weight limits that exclude lighter sailors, gear and lifejackets that do not fit, onshore/onboard facilities and race schedules designed for only one gender, limited visibility in the media, and the need for more diverse role models winning at the top. As she put it: “We are one of the few sports where men and women can be equal. But the playing field is not equal today.”

Dubois returned to the stage with a challenge that resonated across the room. Every leader has power. Use it. Take one concrete action inside your own team or organisation. Move from tolerance to belonging. Because change starts with voices like Mackay’s — and with leaders willing to open the door so those voices can be heard.

Designing a Sport That Fits More Than One Body Type

Another powerful session came from the panel on Inclusive Ergonomics in High-Performance Sailing. Pro sailor and performance data analyst Emily Nagel began with a simple truth backed by hard data: we are built differently, yet most of our equipment is still designed for one body type. Men have 40 to 60 percent greater upper-body strength, 41 percent higher grip strength, and on average stand 10 to 15 centimeters taller. Women also have smaller hands and are three times more vulnerable to whiplash. When boats, hardware and interiors are designed around the “average” western male, the consequences show up everywhere: higher injury rates, less efficient grinding positions, and boats that are simply harder for many sailors to move through safely. The examples were evident. F50 and VO65 deck heights that shorter sailors cannot reach. Winches set too high for lighter sailors to use effectively. Offshore bunks that require a full climb at 30 degrees of heel. Moth wingspans that favor taller, heavier athletes. It all adds up to performance gaps that have nothing to do with talent.

Offshore skipper Rosalin Kuiper brought it back to lived experience, but with a nuance. She argued that “it’s not a gender thing.” Her IMOCA boats were, in her opinion, originally built for French male. “Single-handed Vendee Globe sailors”, as noted by naval architect Quentin Lucet of VPLP Design. Rosalin is one of the tallest sailors in the fleet and could not stand properly inside the boat while her French male teammates could. What she highlighted instead was how her body changed after giving birth. Core and pelvic strength shifted, and with that, safety did too. Something as basic as going to the toilet offshore became unsafe. Her first request for her next campaign: a proper carbon toilet.

Nagel reminded the room that any good engineer designs for the end user. Sailing has long assumed a single user profile. If the sport wants equality, that assumption has to change.

Senior researcher Laura Marimon Giovannetti added an encouraging perspective. New studies show that adjusting class design to accommodate a broader range of weights and heights could open Olympic pathways to far more athletes. It would also improve youth retention and diversity. “When we design for more end users,” she said, “that’s when we really start changing the game.”

The Olympic context makes this even clearer. Many women’s classes were adapted from male equivalents rather than designed for female physiology. Studies from Aarhus 2018 and Pan et al. 2024 confirm that many women sit below 65 kilos, while current classes favor 68 to 70 kilos. The result is predictable: performance bias, pressure to gain weight, and increased injury risk. Past decisions prioritized logistics, not ergonomics.

The panel’s outlook, however, was far from discouraging. The path forward is clear: bring designers in earlier, build human-centered frameworks, and create equipment that adapts to different bodies instead of forcing bodies to adapt to equipment. As moderator Shirley Robertson put it, “We all come in different sizes and shapes.” Yet many sailors are still expected to manage basic needs offshore with a bucket.” The disconnect is obvious, but so is the opportunity. If sailing embraces design for all sailors, not just one profile, the sport becomes faster, safer and far more accessible. And that is a future everyone on the panel believed is within reach.

Power, Pathways and the Reality of Cultural Change

The fireside session on inclusivity brought a constructive and forward-looking tone. Leaders from 11th Hour Racing, Team Malizia, World Sailing, The Magenta Project and Henri-Lloyd agreed that the sport has taken meaningful steps toward gender equality, and that momentum is finally building across all levels of sailing.

Victoria Low, CEO of The Magenta Project, highlighted one of the clearest signs of progress: more major marine organisations are now actively seeking guidance on how to bring women and young talent into their teams. A supportive community is growing, and conversations that once happened in small circles are now shaping boardrooms, events and hiring decisions. Still, she pointed out that many women and minority sailors do not yet feel they fully belong in yacht clubs. Cultural change at the base level is essential.

Looking ahead, the ambition is bold but achievable. A 50-50 presence in coaching, officiating, leadership and events. More inclusive club cultures. Broader pathways for mothers, professionals and late starters. And a sport where belonging is felt, not granted.

The direction is set. Now it is about keeping the pressure on, together.

Performance Thrives When Everyone Belongs

Across two days, one message rose above all others. Gender equality in yacht racing is not about charity. It is about performance. It is about designing a sport that attracts more talent, keeps more sailors healthy, and builds stronger teams. It is about making sure the next generation steps into a culture that lets them grow. The leaders in Amsterdam agreed on one thing. Every person in the room is accountable. Every organization has the power to make a change. And the future of the sport depends on whether we choose to use that power now, not later.

The next chapter of equality in yacht racing will not be written by panels or pledges. It will be written by actions to make people feel like they truly belong.