Gentoo sailing team is a team focused on competing in the 2024 Vendee Globe with James Harayda skippering. As part of their goal, they are hoping to open the door for more young sailors to have an opportunity to sail and work with a Vendee Globe team through their youth program. The selected sailors will get to compete in JOG offshore races onboard a brand new sunfast 3300. This is also an opportunity to learn skills from industry leaders in rigging, sail making, boat building, and even the chance to train on the IMOCA!

In January I saw this advert shared on Facebook by Hannah Mills. I looked at it and thought wow, that looks amazing, but there’s no way I’m good enough for it. Later I told my mum about it while in Costa, and she said I had to go for it. You’ll never get there if you don’t try, and really there is no harm in applying. So I had a look at the form, wrote down all the questions and started writing. Only after writing a page and I had decided that every word was perfect and there were no spelling mistakes, did I put it into the online form. Then I found out you only had 500 characters per question. With only 5 questions, I had to try and fit everything in. I wanted to say everything so I had the best chance of getting in. I did it and nervously submitted it with fingers crossed.

A couple of weeks later I got an email, I had been accepted! I was amazed, out of 95 applicants. It would include an offshore or coastal race each, talk and mentoring sessions with leaders like Dee Caffari, networking events, technical workshops and maybe even the chance to sail an IMOCA. We were due to have a training weekend on the 12th and 13th of March. I could not wait to meet the other sailors and coaches, experience a proper racing boat and be welcomed into the world of offshore racing

Read more about the Gentoo sailing team and their youth program here