The Magenta Project, a charity focused on equity in sailing, has launched the 2025/26 edition of its mentoring programme. It’s the 10th year of the programme and the largest and most diverse group of participants to date.
The Magenta Project mentoring programme, which aims to improve equity and inclusion across sailing and the wider marine industry, now has 18 per cent of mentors who are male, which the charity highlights as progress: adding that equity requires collective effort. Returning mentor Benjamin Schwartz joins new participants such as Tim Kröger, Stuart Childerley and Carlos Manera. Ten of this year’s mentors are former mentees.
Mentors from Team SCA, founding members of The Magenta Project, are also continuing their involvement a decade later. Carolijn Brouwer, who has mentored every year since the programme began, returns alongside Elodie-Jane Mettraux, Justine Mettraux, Liz Wardley, Annie Lush and Abby Ehler.
New mentors this year include Polly Gough, medical advisor at The Ocean Race; María del Mar de Ros Raventós, former CEO of the Spain SailGP Team; and Louise Morton, known for her role in the revival of the Quarter Ton class and for promoting inclusion through her all-female team. Other mentors include Alexandra Rickham, director of sustainability, and Hannah Stodel, Paralympics lead, both part of World Sailing’s management team, along with Francesca Clapcich, who is preparing for her Transat Café L’OR campaign with 11th Hour Racing. Mentors cover eight pathways: Offshore, Inshore, Foiling, STEM, Media, Leadership, Race Management and Race Support.
To promote accessibility, a new bursary fund supported by the Tom and Margery Pindar Bursary Fund will assist six mentees in its first year.
The Magenta Project recently launched the Mighty Magenta Community Hub, a new digital platform that allows mentors and mentees to connect, share resources and engage with the organisation’s global network.
Victoria Low, CEO of The Magenta Project, says: “Mentoring is not a solo project; it’s a discipline. We’re proud to see this programme double in scale and evolve each year, while also being open to collaboration with other global mentoring initiatives. A huge thank you to our mentors for their commitment and generosity – their guidance is what makes this programme so impactful.
“We are inspired to see how the 2025/26 cohort build their careers and pathways in our industry. Together we can build something stronger than any of us could achieve alone.”
Since 2018, nearly 300 mentees have been supported by over 100 mentors, contributing to a growing network of skills, confidence and leadership across the sport.
The Magenta Project was founded in 2015 by members of Team SCA from the Volvo Ocean Race. The organisation promotes equity and inclusion within sailing and the wider marine industry through mentoring, leadership development, pathways and STEM initiatives.
Separately, The Magenta Project recently launched a new survey into equity and inclusion in sailing and the wider marine industry. The project ran from July to September 2025, with final findings to be presented at the World Sailing AGM in November 2025, and publicly launched at Metstrade and the Yacht Racing Forum.
Early results have revealed encouraging signs of progress on representation, while also laying bare systemic barriers that continue to hold sailing and the wider marine industry back.
The survey results so far reveal 62 per cent of respondents have experienced sexism, 23 per cent report ageism and 46 per cent have felt unwelcome at a sailing club or event. Six in ten do not consider clubs to be inclusive for people of all backgrounds. At an organisational level, fewer than a third of respondents report the presence of an equality policy (29 per cent) or a designated person responsible for diversity and inclusion (30 per cent).
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