About the skipper - Hannah White

Hannah’s passion for sailing dates from 1998, when Hannah competed in her first keelboat regatta – Cowes Week (the world’s largest sailing regatta). Following this successful week sailing with experienced sailors such as Chris Dunning, Hannah continued sailing whilst studying for her A-Levels. Once Hannah had left school, she went to Australia where she gained all her formal sailing qualifications and developed her love of racing. She spent the year racing Supermaxi and Whitbread boats of the highest calibre, including The Card and Wild Thing. On her return to the UK, aged 19, Hannah set about finding sponsorship for her first ever campaign, to enter the youngest crew ever to race at Cowes Week.

In August 1999 Hannah and her 5 crew (all under 20) were on the start line having secured funding from Cowes Week sponsors, Skandia and Roger Taylor and Ben Elton’s musical We Will Rock You.

Following this Hannah’s racing career took her all over the world, competing in races such as Goteland Runt, Sweden, Middle Sea Race, Malta and various race weeks in the Caribbean. She had also realised her love for short handed sailing through the Mini Transat circuit, racing 21foot single-handed boats designed for crossing the Atlantic.

In 2004 with the help and encouragement of sponsors, Hannah purchased a state-of-the-art 40-footer, which had just raced round the world, aiming to compete in the famous OSTAR (Original Single-handed Trans-Atlantic Race) in 2005. She successfully built a team and gained funding to enter the race from Plymouth to Newport, RI.

On the startline of the OSTAR Hannah, at 22, was the youngest skipper and the only female racing in the monohull class. This created unprecedented media coverage both nationally and internationally.

Bad weather in the first week of the race decimated the fleet leaving Hannah in the lead in her Class. Gear problems had plagued White Spirit from the start and, finally, failures in the course computers of both autopilots gave Hannah no option but to retire from the race for safety reasons. Only one competitor in her class finished the 3,200 miles course.

With more encouragement from her sponsors, Hannah, went on to compete in other events, including winning the 2006 Petit Bateau race.

In September 2006, Hannah sold her Open 40 to work with Alex Thomson Racing’s Open 60 Campaign sponsored by Hugo Boss. This gave Hannah the experience she needed to progress her own campaigns to the next level. Her diverse job as Tour Manager with the Volvo 60 race yacht, Hugo Boss, included logistical and race team commitments together with running the corporate marketing campaign for Hugo Boss on an international level in locations including NY, Toronto, Los Angeles, Hawaii, Shanghai and Hong Kong. This was invaluable experience in understanding sports marketing in which projects reach beyond sponsorship and provide a dynamic client- focused sports marketing product.