Hannah White, 19, put together a crew, all of whom are younger than 20, negotiated sponsorship, chartered a boat and managed to impress an Olympic medallist with her sailing ability here at Skandia Life Cowes Week.

Hannah White, 19, put together a crew, all of whom are younger than 20, negotiated sponsorship, chartered a boat and managed to impress an Olympic medallist with her sailing ability here at Skandia Life Cowes Week.

Chosen as one of five boats to represent Skandia’s values and receive sponsorship for Skandia Life Cowes Week, Hannah White’s seven-strong team was joined by Olympic medallist, Iain Percy, for yesterday’s racing:

“I can remember what I was like at 19, and I’ve never known such a young crew and skipper to be so organised. I was amazed. Hannah stood out as particularly mature, enthusiastic and holds determination in abundance,” Percy stated.

We can exclusively reveal that Skandia has decided to continue its sponsorship of Hannah, enabling her to put forward a team for Cowes Youth Week. Organised by Cowes Corinthian Yacht Club (CCYC) and the Island Sailing Club (ISC), Cowes Youth Week is a match racing challenge using 16 identical Sonars that will be held this year on 13-17 August . As Iain noted, “it’s just the kind of racing that will give Hannah a sound basis and grounding for any kind of competitive sailing.” She agreed, though was quick to point out, “it’s a completely different ball game and I don’t expect to do that well in all honesty!”

Hannah’s aim is to develop as an offshore sailor and take part in ocean races such as the Volvo Ocean Race. However, in today’s world the sailing game is as much about media skills as sailing ability. It is here that her determination to secure sponsorship and confidence in handling journalists will prove of undeniable value. “Sponsorship is of utmost importance as it’s very difficult to achieve recognition,” Hannah explained. “It will help me to get a footing and gain some match racing experience, something I’ve never done before.”

She’s planning to hang on to several members of her current team – the Sonar is sailed by four crew all-up – but is still unsure who they will be. “I would like to sail with my current team as we work well together, but we’ll have to wait and see who goes.”