Old Oakhamian Emily Nagel recently trialled with Great Britain SailGP for a place on the team, which is looking to include female members for the first time.
Emily was one of four women triallists and as part of the appraisal she was given the opportunity to sail in the high-performance foiling F50 catamaran, which is capable of exceeding 50 knots, at the Great Britain Sail Grand Prix in Plymouth.
Emily described the sail as “one of the best experiences of my life” and is grateful for the chance to become a potential member of the SailGP GBR team, competing at the highest level of the sport. Emily said, “Sail GP, like the America’s Cup, like a lot of professional sailing is male dominated. To actually have the opportunity to trial on the sailing side is everything to me.”
Emily, left Oakham School in 2012 and studied engineering at Southampton University, followed by an internship with America’s Cup team SoftBank Japan. She was part of the AkzoNobel team in the 2017/18 Volvo Ocean Race and has worked as a Performance Data Analyst for Great Britain SailGP.
With the trials now completed, the SailGP GBR team led by Sir Ben Ainslie, the most successful sailor in Olympic history, will be deciding which female athlete will become part of the team full-time and we wish Emily the best of luck.
