The Female Futures Group
Shaping the future for women and girls in the RYA Pathway and beyond
Our mission
To make Great Britain the best place in the world to develop female sailors for life.
That means focusing on more than performance alone. It’s about participation, confidence, visibility and opportunity — creating an environment where female sailors can thrive on the water and beyond it.
Why the Female Futures Group exists
The Female Futures Group exists to help make sailing a sport where women and girls feel supported to stay, grow and succeed, whether that’s racing at the highest level, coaching the next generation, or building a lifelong connection to the sport.
Established by the RYA in April 2025, the group brings together lived experience and expertise to ensure female sailors are not just part of the Pathway but genuinely supported by it.
For women and girls to succeed, the system around them matters. The Female Futures Group works alongside the RYA racing pathway to better understand the real experiences of female sailors and help shape environments where they feel confident, capable and excited about their future in the sport.
Closely aligned with the RYA’s Pathway Evolution Project, the group supports positive change across every stage of development from youth sailing through to coaching, leadership and marine careers.
What are they focusing on?
To achieve their mission, three long-term objectives has been identified to guide their work.
More racers
Targeting support and guidance to clubs and classes to increase the number of active female racers in Pathway classes by 2028
Better experiences
Implementing female-specific support and training across all RYA Pathway programmes, coaches, and classes by 2026, to ensure parents, coaches, events, and programmes foster thriving female development environments
Aspirational role models
Aspirational Role Models: Target a 50% increase in female coaches/management roles by 2028, to enhance the visibility and impact of female sailors, coaches, and leaders to inspire the next generation
Since launching in 2025, work has already been underway to target these objectives, turning ideas to action and focusing on practical work to make a real difference. Over the course of their first year this includes:
Raising visibility of opportunities for women and girls, delivering careers and role‑model sessions at events such as the Southampton International Boat Show, the RYA Dinghy and Watersports Show and DAWS, helping young sailors and parents understand the breadth sailing can lead to.
Connecting sailing to wider marine careers, contributing to the RNLI’s Women in Search and Rescue conference and supporting women exploring operational and leadership roles across the maritime sector.
Sharing inspiring stories, including the launch of In Her Element, a short film released on International Women’s Day celebrating first experiences on the water, role models and the journeys that start small.
Making female health education part of everyday sailing environments, developing and sharing menstrual‑cycle education resources, delivering online talks for junior sailors and their support networks, and running in‑person education sessions at Welsh Squad camps for sailors, coaches and support staff.
Building community and aspiration, bringing girls from Youth Talent Academies together at a Female Futures Camp at Loughborough University to connect, reflect on their environments, learn about athlete health and hear directly from female role models within sailing and other Olympic sports.
Introducing simple, practical changes, such as the “Wishy Washy” wetsuit washing station, to help remove everyday barriers and normalise conversations around hydration, kit care and confidence on the water.
Engaging more than 80 sailors and 12 coaches through targeted education activity, with feedback highlighting increased confidence, understanding and openness around topics that have not always been talked about in sport.
Supporting the next generation of coaches, using mentoring and shadowing opportunities to help three new female coaches develop with Welsh Sailing.
Meet the Female Futures Group
Introducing the multidisciplinary group of experts spanning performance sport, coaching, research, psychology, athlete health and governance.
Hannah Diamond
Internationally recognised sailor with experience in SailGP, Olympic campaigning and America’s Cup competition.
Nick Scott
RYA Director of Sport
Oli Woodcock
RYA Youth Racing Manager
Olivia Risk
RYA Racing Operations Manager
Alex Newman
Female Athlete Health Consultant
Natalie Brown
Research Officer, Welsh Institute of Performance Science and Female Athlete Health Lead, The Football Association
Sarah McGovern
Chief Operating Officer for RYA Cymru Wales
Rebecca Partridge
Female Health and Wellbeing Researcher and Performance Pathway Officer and British Gymnastics.
Paula MacLaverty
Female athlete coach for Welsh Sailing, Water Volunteer and Race Committee Member
Jess Libby
British Sailing Youth Team 420 lead coach &advanced research engineer at The Manufacturing Technology Centre
Kirstie Urwin
Academy Sport Psychologist at Brighton and Hove Albion Football Club . Former British Sailing Team member
Abbie Hewitt
High Performance Manager, driving change in talent development, supporting pathways in Sport in Scotland. Former sailor and coach.
Nicola Boniface
Sea Survival Trainer at the RNLI, leading female health education in RYA junior pathways. Former British Sailing Team Sailor.
Resources and tools
- Overview of the Menstrual Cycle: A printable poster created by the group - designed as a resources for coaches, clubs or even young sailors themselves to give an overview of the menstrual cycle.