About Me
Hi everyone, I’m Daisy, a sailor in the British Sailing Team. My dream- to win a Gold Medal at the LA 2028 Olympic Games.
I’m a two-time UK ILCA 6 National Champion, a Youth Worlds Bronze Medallist and have placed inside the top 10 in consecutive years at the Senior European Championships. I was a training partner for our ILCA 6 representative in the run up to the 2024 Olympic Games and my full focus is now on winning a Gold Medal in LA 2028.
Back to where it all began!
I learnt to sail on the River Deben in Waldringfield, Suffolk in the Cadet Class. I spent most of my junior sailing swimming with the boat upside down or getting rescued after getting stuck in the mud. The first ever trophy I won was the notorious silver Bucket- awarded to the sailor with the most capsizes. I sailed with each of my three siblings crewing for me at one time or another which perhaps was what led me towards singlehanded sailing!
My parents joked that we would never travel around the country to sail but a local friend offered to take me to the RYA Youth Nationals in Weymouth “so I could watch” but instead I insisted on taking part even though I was small, young, went without my parents and had never sailed an ILCA6. It was an exhausting week. I was far too light for the boat and it was far too windy. I spent the entire time swimming or sleeping for 11 hours each night. But I caught the competitive bug. I loved the racing and I felt so inspired by being in (not too close) proximity to the winners of the Youth Nationals, who at the time were absolute legends to a rookie 13 year old.
Moving into the Olympic class the ILCA 6
When I fully transitioned into the ILCA 6 at the age of 15 I spent many years racing around at the back of the fleet. It was tough and there were moments where it felt like the top of the ladder was too hard to climb. But I loved sailing, and I was addicted to even the smallest improvements you could see when you trained hard. Eventually the hard work and tenacity paid off. In 2017, I qualified for the World Sailing Youth Worlds in Sanya, China and came away with a bronze medal after a desperately tight last mark rounding on the last race. That result qualified me for the British Sailing Team at the age of 18- an absolute dream come true.
Where I am now
After graduating from the University of Bath with the Psychology degree, I moved down the Weymouth (our British Sailing Team base) and transitioned to training and competing internationally full time. I’ve got a few more rungs to climb up the ladder to win an Olympic Gold Medal in 2028 but, just as I did as a youth, I’m motivated by constantly learning and thriving off seeing progression.
What i do
I sail the ILCA (formerly known as the Laser), the Women’s Olympic singlehanded dinghy. It’s an extremely competitive and tactical boat to sail, challenging both mentally and physically. The boat is a one design class, meaning every boat is the same and so who wins really comes down to the quality of the athlete sailing it. In most conditions the boat requires power, endurance and strength to achieve the maximum speed possible, hence why the best ILCA sailors are some of the strongest and fittest athletes at the Games.
Whilst I’m based in Weymouth, I literally travel the globe to compete at International Events and also do a bulk of training abroad. This way we get to line up and compare against the best in the world and develop our racing skills against the highest level of competition.
Each year there is an ILCA6 Worlds and an ILCA6 Europeans – in 2025 they are in Qingdao, China and Marstrand, Sweden respectively – but we also have ranking events in the UK and other big international events for example in Palma, Majorca and Hyeres, France.
Between events we do a lot of training as part of the ILCA6 British Sailing Team both in the UK and in venue overseas. It’s a full time endeavour – hard physical work but hugely rewarding. It’s a privilege to represent my country at the highest level and something I only dreamed of as a little girl starting out on my sailing career back when I was 7 years old.