Having room to make mistakes

Sanni Beucke, a 2020 Olympic Medalist and Offshore sailor for Germany, answers the question about why there are “women’s only” events if there is not the same for men.

Sailing makes this subject actually very tangible. I recently coached 18 women at HER.izon, the all-female Sailing Academy with IN2THEBLUE in Croatia. When I got back, I heard all of it again: Are you really pushing equality if you are coaching “only” women?

The answer is simple: women need safe spaces to learn from their mistakes, try again and see what they’re capable of. But simple doesn’t always mean obvious.

The 2×25 Review, published this year by The Magenta Project with World Sailing and 11th Hour Racing, found that more than 85% of women in sailing have experienced sexism. Nearly 60% say they’ve had to adapt their behavior to feel accepted.

Seven years after the first global review, three in four women still see gender balance as a problem in our sport. That number has barely moved.

A learning environment requires you to get it wrong at first. In sailing, when you take the helm the first time, you will make the wrong call, and you will want to try again without wondering what it says about you.

Psychologist Albert Bandura called it self-efficacy: confidence grows through mastery experiences. Through doing, failing, and doing better. But when part of your energy goes into managing how you’re perceived, there’s less left for learning.

That’s what a women-only camp gives back. Not an easier version of the sport but room to make mistakes.

The goal was never separation. The goal is for every boat, club, and team to offer that same room to fail. Until it does, we keep building these spaces, and the women who learn in them carry that confidence everywhere else.

Where did you first feel safe enough to get it wrong?