Sailing's global push to get more women and girls on the water returns next year, with Steering the Course set to run its next edition in the lead-up to the Youth Olympic Games in Dakar at the end of October 2026.
The festival has a track record now. Five years running, and organisers reckon plenty of sailors currently making headlines first found the sport through exactly this kind of programme.
The timing is no accident, either. A festival built around first tries and first steps arrives just weeks before some of the world's best young sailors take to the start line on the biggest stage of their careers so far.
For most people, sailing starts small. A first lesson at the local club, a family day out on the water. Sometimes it is simpler still: a curious friend tagging along to see where their more experienced mate disappears to every weekend.
Steering the Course leans into that. Introductory sessions run across the globe, put on for women and girls who have never set foot in a boat, and for those wondering whether there is a place for them in the sport as an official, coach or administrator rather than just a competitor.
That is really the point of it. The festival is pitched as a potential first rung on a very long ladder, one that in theory stretches from a nervous first go at the helm all the way to representing your country.
Grassroots to elite, in other words, and organisers are keen to stress the line between the two is more direct than people might assume. A girl trying sailing for the first time during this year's festival could, down the track, find herself lining up at a Youth Olympic Games. Some may go further still, all the way to the Olympic Games.
Behind the festival sits a broader commitment from World Sailing to sustainable, equal-opportunity pathways across every discipline of the sport. The idea is that anyone who steps into a boat during Steering the Course, whatever their age or ability, comes away feeling empowered to pursue their personal best, whether that means recreational enjoyment or an Olympic podium.
On the ground, it is sailing clubs, national member authorities and local communities doing the heavy lifting, building programmes designed to welcome women and girls of all ages and experience levels.
Whether that means trying sailing for the first time, returning to the water after time away, or stepping up into coaching or officiating, the festival offers a supportive environment in which to begin that journey.
Every Olympic journey begins with a single step. For the next generation of female sailing pioneers, that step starts here.
