This summer, Ani L. ’26 won the US Junior Women’s Singlehanded Sailing Championship in Michigan, a testament not only to her years of dedication and effort, but also to the future of women’s presence in a heavily male-dominated sport. 

Ani started sailing at just nine years old, after watching her older brother pursue it. She began with summer camps, learning the basics, and before long, she joined the Seattle Yacht Club’s Green Fleet, a program for beginners learning to race. Usually, joining the Green Fleet requires more skill and practice than summer camps alone provide, so Ani was “really, really unprepared to be doing beginner racing.” Though she “didn’t know what [she] was getting [herself] into,” she kept training and made her way up the club’s levels. 

Sailing is unique from almost every other sport in that it is coed. Youth sailors usually start in a beginner boat called an “Opti,” intended for people under 15. The majority of sailors are boys who are able to move on to the next boat, a “Laser,” before they age out. But Ani’s size limited her to the Opti until her freshman year, when most of her male-dominated age group already had multiple years of experience with the Laser. Ani was able to catch up by adding high school sailing for Lakeside’s unofficial team to the club sailing she was already doing, and Lakeside’s strength program helped her adjust to the bigger boat. “I’ve had a lot of support from Lakeside,” she said, “in terms of getting into lifting sophomore year through my PE class and then sticking with it through my junior year, which has helped me a lot.” Even now, Ani is stuck between boats, this time the ILCA 4 and ILCA 6, which will again require her to catch up. 

The US Junior Women’s Singlehanded Sailing Championship is unique as one of the only girls-only sailing events, and this is what made it such a great opportunity for Ani. Among the already tight-knit sailing community, having a place to meet other girls interested in the same sport and connect with people from different places is a valuable way to encourage equal representation for women. 

Ani says she hopes everyone will try their hand at sailing, even if it doesn’t become their sport. At every step of the way Ani has faced challenges based on her gender and size, but her perseverance has taken her far. Whatever is on the horizon, this accomplishment is an inspiration to anyone who feels out of place or behind.