Nina Curtis (AUS), Katja Salskov-Iversen (DEN), Amelie Riou (FRA), Hannah Mills (GBR), Sena Takano (JPN), Erica Dawson (NZL), Andrea Emone (ESP) and CJ Perez (USA). Perez, third from left.

Recently, the Washington Post featured a profile of CJ Perez, an 18-year-old female sailor who recently joined the US team of SailGP. SailGP is an international sailing competition using high-performance F50 foiling catamarans, where teams compete across a season of multiple grands prix around the world. The competition is described as adrenaline-fueled racing where eight teams go head-to-head in iconic venues across the globe for a winner-takes-all $1 million prize.

Despite her age, CJ Perez is a seasoned foiling sailor, winning the 2021 USA Champion Gold – WASZP, a one-design development of the foiling Moth. She is also credited with becoming the first American woman, first Latina, and the youngest person ever to race in SailGP.

Perez will not be the only woman sailing on the American team or in the SailGP competition. Four-time World Champion Kite Foiler & two-time Rolex Yachtswoman of the Year Daniela Moroz, 20, also joined the team last April. Anna Weis, 23, 2020 Olympian and 2019 Pan American Games – Nacra 17 gold medal winner will also be sailing with the US team. 

SailGP’s Woman’s Pathway Program is part of its larger diversity, equity, and inclusion initiative. Teams in the 2021-22 SailGP championship were required to train female athletes as part of a trial, with one female athlete then becoming a full member of the team. So far, more than 20 women athletes have participated in the program.  

Included in that number is Great Britain SailGP Team athlete and the world’s most successful female Olympic sailor Hannah Mills, who said: “I’m incredibly excited to be racing …, it’s a really great step forward for the female athletes to be in the thick of it, witnessing it all, getting in and helping wherever we can – tactics, strategy, and communications – I am really excited for that. The adrenaline rush is going to be massive, it already is when we do the practice racing.

“It’s also awesome for SailGP to have a strong vision and commitment going forward for the future of women’s involvement in the league, it’s very exciting and I can’t wait to figure out how we can make it all happen, how we can make it a success and how I can help drive it forward.”

Thanks to Larry Witmer, Irwin Bryan, and Seymour Hamilton for contributing to this post.