NEW SPORT FEATURE - WINDSURFING!

Name: Sarah Jackson

Location: Hayling Island, near Portsmouth, UK

Age started windsurfing: 8

Global competitions: I compete on the PWA World Tour in slalom racing and hopefully waves in the next couple of years. Normally we have a World Tour of around five events every year, but obviously that didn’t happen last year due to COVID. We get to go to some incredible places such as Portugal, Lake Garda (Italy), Japan and New Caledonia!

Titles: IFCA Youth Slalom World Champion 2018; ranked 4th IFCA Slalom World Rankings 2018

What is it about windsurfing that you love? I love the freedom of being out on the water and being able to share some of the best moments of my life with my friends. We look at the weather forecast for the most horrible weather possible and that is our idea of fun!

How does it make you feel? Its sounds cliche but being out on the water really lets you feel free - you’re at the mercy of the elements and even on the craziest of days it can feel so peaceful which is a real relief, especially in these times.

How can a girl give it a try in the UK? The best way to get involved is to have a lesson. There’s lots of schools across the UK with amazing instructors, and also lots of female instructors giving clinics. Feel free to send me a message through my website or Instagram if you want more information on where’s best to go near you.

Photo credit Sarah Jackson

Equality in windsurfing

I’m Sarah Jackson and I got into sport for the same reason as almost everyone – for the love of it! I tried pretty much every sport under the sun growing up, and I’m still finding new sports to try, but windsurfing was my one true love and the harder I trained, the better I got. However, I didn’t start out trying to be the best in the world, or even wanting to be a professional windsurfer, I just wanted to be on the water as much as possible doing what I love!

There were never many other girls around when I started out, but at the time it didn’t really bother me as I was such a tomboy. Looking back, I can see how it could have been really off-putting for so many young girls, and throughout my career it’s been my aim to inspire as many girls into the sport as possible. Some of my friends and I are hoping to run some girls only clinics and sessions in the summer of 2021, if COVID restrictions allow, so keep an eye on my Instagram (@sarahjack0) for more information on that.

From almost the day I started windsurfing, I was pushed down the racing pathway and whilst there were always more guys than girls, UK Sport funding regulations required an equal number of regional and national squad places available for both males and females, so I never truly saw the extent of the issues in the wider sporting world until later.

I grew up with old windsurfing calendars and magazines cut up and stuck on my bedroom walls, and when I was 13, I got to meet one of the girls I’d always looked up to – Sarah-Quita Offringa – she was the young princess of windsurfing back then with numerous world titles at only 20 years old and now she is most definitely the QUEEN! Twelve world titles in freestyle, four in slalom and one in wave – she does it all and is one of the nicest people I’ve ever met! Meeting Sarah-Quita was the moment I knew I wanted what (I thought) she had. Travelling the world, bouncing from photoshoots in Maui to world tour stops and then a quick trip home to Aruba – what a life it looked! This was in part the media illusion and knowing both Sarah-Quita now as a friend and from my personal experience, it looks like a lot of fun but it’s not all plain sailing!!

Photo credit PWA/John Carter

Alongside Sarah-Quita on my wall were the Moreno twins, Daida and Iballa from Spain – the previous queens of our sport and still a force to be reckoned with in the waves. It was with Daida and Iballa that the road to equality in windsurfing started…. As well as being the top athletes in their disciplines in the world, they have additional jobs to support themselves and they also organise one of the biggest stops on the world tour. It’s hard sometimes to fathom that the best women in the world also have to work another job and organise a tour stop just to be able to put dinner on the table! But it was in organising their own event that the Morenos started to action against the inequality in the prize money between men and women: they announced in 2018 that the Gran Canaria World Cup would have prize winnings of €35,000 for both men and women for the first time ever! Their hard work combined with the PWA (Professional Windsurfing Association) women’s representative (and top 3 slalom sailor), Lena Erdil, amongst others, has culminated in where we are today.

So where are we now? Well, in a statement put out by the PWA, “the new structure will mean that all competitors at events who earn prize money will receive the same amount for their finishing position, regardless of gender”. In reality, it’s a big step forward for women’s windsurfing but the fight isn’t over. There is still a lot more that needs to be done within the industry when it comes to women’s salaries, sponsorship contracts and media coverage but it’s a positive movement forwards towards a more equal society.

Some may question why we need equality and if the standard of the women’s competition isn’t currently as high as the men’s, do the women deserve to be paid as much as the men? My only answer to this is that we have the same costs, the same travel expenses, training commitments, competition schedule and we risk ourselves as much as they do, so why should we be paid any less?

Thank you Sarah for your guest blog! If you would like to write a guest blog about your sport, please get in touch! You can email us using hello@wearegirlsinsport.com

Thumbnail image photo credit PWA/John Carter