Sail1Design has been lucky to be part of some great moments over the years, mostly when we do our job, and take part in recognizing the very foundation of our sport: youth, high school, college, and one-design sailors. Reading nomination letters, hearing from our community about unsung heroes, sharing in the joy of the winners…… makes the whole Sail1Design project, now almost 20 years in the making, more than worth it. It is always nice to hear about people in our sport not only doing things well, but doing things the right way.

Remember, for Coach of the Year, we only choose candidates from nomination letters sent in, so we sit back, wait, and take what we get. This year, over the last month we were faced (again) with a lot of really good nominations, and we whittled that down to a small list of finalists. The Pacific Northwest has spoken: the team decided that this years winner had to be Sarah Hanavan. Scroll down to the bottom of this article to learn more about Sarah. We admire Sarah’s energy, passion, and love of both the sport and her gift of teaching. Congratulations!

Sarah is deserving on so many levels; what stood out was the sheer number of separate letters she received, and of course, what those letters described. Despite not hailing from one of the biggest sailing hotbeds, Sarah has really developed a wonderful program at Olympia (WA) Community Sailing. Below are just a few excerpts from 15 separate nomination letters that Sarah received:
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I am currently a senior at Bowdoin College and am a captain and four-year member of the sailing team. I am thankful for Sarah not only because she is the person who taught me how to sail, but also because she has been an amazing role model and mentor. 

The summers after 6th and 7th grade, my parents sent me to Olympia Parks and Recreation summer sailing camps, which, unbeknownst to me, were organized by Sarah. Through these sailing camps, I found the sport of sailing and eventually learned that Sarah also ran the high school sailing team. After a conversation with Sarah, hearing her passion for the sport, she convinced me to join. Progressing through five years of youth sailing, coached by Sarah, she allowed me every opportunity to excel and follow my passion for sailing despite Olympia not having a history of youth sailing and the lack of competitiveness within the Northwest. She taught me the basics, like how to roll tack, the complex like how to sail through a fleet after a difficult start, and the nuanced like how to be a good teammate in the most pressured situations. Sarah taught me high-level sports psychology strategies and allowed me to experiment and develop my unique style of sailing. Sarah did everything from teaching my Level One so I could become a sailing instructor during the summer to coaching me every weekend of her spring, summer, and fall. 

I find myself trying to put into words all that Sarah did for Olympia sailing, but it is nearly impossible. Two years before I took my first sailing summer camp, Sarah was hired. When she started, there were four members of the high school sailing team and little to no infrastructure in place for youth sailing. Today, sailing in Olympia takes place through a non-profit Sarah set up (Olympia Community Sailing) with two fleets of boats, operations out of two different locations, and hundreds of kids on the race teams and doing summer camps. All that progress didn’t happen by accident, it happened because Sarah worked day and night to bring the joy and love of sailing to little old Olympia. 

Next week, I will graduate from Bowdoin, and the week after, I will sail in my fourth College Sailing Nationals. I have been lucky enough to sail these past four years under Frank Pizzo (2015 S1D coach of the year), but my sailing journey would have been possible without Sarah. I am so truly grateful for Sarah’s impact on my life and can not think of anyone who deserves this award more than her. I sincerely hope that you not only consider but select Sarah Hanavan with this award for her hard work and exceptional coaching.
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I am writing to encourage you to choose Coach Sarah as coach of the year. 

My son had his first experience on the water at a summer camp class. Sarah watched them learning, asked him some questions and told him “you’ve been paying attention! We need more kids like you to join the team!” And I’ve been looking back through photos, trying to make sure I get the years right, but I think that was fifth grade.  After that, he sailed every year, most regattas, through his senior year of high school. 

Sarah instilled in him the best sense of ethics, hustle, common sense, problem solving and can-do spirit. She taught him to lose gracefully. She taught him to look at the wind on the water, and look at the surrounding hills, and then talk with the local folks about the wind. She taught him he can learn new boats. New rigging. Trapeze. She taught him to work with his skipper as a team.  She taught him to always thank the race committee.  
She inspired him to ride his bike to practice three nights a week -even when school,life , weather made it stressful, because… “It doesn’t matter. We treat every practice just like it’s a regatta”.  She’s and now, he’s taken that full circle, and he’s coaching a team!  

Sarah’s leadership is just infectious. She makes people believe they can do things. She coached me! I told her that I could not assist with towing boats, because I was scared to tow boats. I had no interest in towing boats. Through gentle coaching, enthusiasm, willingness to train, Sara has turned me into a person who tows boats. I can tow a triple trailer through Seattle traffic, even through the narrow roads and construction around the University of Washington. Anyone who knows me, is in total disbelief. The only reason I am able to do this, is because Sarah inspires those around her to stretch. She has such grace, persuasiveness, good nature…. she is just a magnificent coach. Even of the parents!

 Thank you for considering her! 
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We are in full support of Sarah’s nomination for Sail 1 Design’s 2025 Coach of the Year.  She has many accomplishments to back it up – the letter from Erin Timms as Board President of Olympia Community Sailing summarizes all that she has done for the sailing community quite nicely.  What a list of accomplishments can’t do, however, is to touch on the intangibles that Sarah has brought to the community over the past 10 years.  My daughter Caleigh somewhat reluctantly signed up for a sailing camp after her freshman year at Olympia High School (Olympia, WA).  She still hadn’t quite found her place in high school and only went to sailing camp because her dad and I thought it sounded super cool and wouldn’t that be a fun way to spend a week in the summer?  Lo and behold, she was one of many who ended up joining the team due to the spirit of inclusion, fun and the understanding that skill sets of all kinds can bring something to the table.  

For the past 3 years, Caleigh has learned SO much from Sarah.  From how to sail but mostly how to move through the world with other people – those who have different backgrounds and think differently from you.  As a complete sailing rookie parent, I have observed, somewhat to my surprise, that sailing is first a people sport – much of it depends on how the skipper and their crew connect and work together and only then can the technical aspects of sailing follow.  

These are life lessons that my now graduating senior will take with her for life.  Sarah has been such a positive female role model and we will be forever grateful to the influence she has had on Caleigh’s high school years.  From a novice sailor to sailing team captain in 3 years – we are so proud of Caleigh, Sarah and OCS/OHS Sailing!  Sarah will be greatly missed as she grows her family but we are so happy for her and Casey to experience parenthood.  We are grateful for the years that Caleigh was able to be in her orbit.
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 I am a current junior on the Tufts Sailing Team. I first met Sarah and was introduced to sailing by her in Olympia when I was eleven years old. In the 10 years since, Sarah has been the best mentor, advisor, friend, boss, and coach I could possibly hope for. Aside from the clear successes she has had growing the Olympia Community Sailing program from the ground up, as well as regional dominance and repeated national appearances from the team, the community she created is, in my opinion, the star of her accomplishments. Her knowledge and application of Sports Psychology concepts, passion for community, and the infectious energy she brings to everything she does make learning from her a joy. She brings people together in a way I have seen from very few other people in my life, making sure that everyone’s voice is heard, their value acknowledged. I came away from my time with her as my coach, not only a better sailor, but also a better person. As a young girl having a female coach to look up to meant so much more than I could even comprehend in the moment. I hope her many contributions to the sailing community inspire future generations of female coaches. I am so grateful to have Sarah as a mentor. She has changed my life and so many others’ infinitely for the better and deserves this recognition.
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Sarah has had a profound impact on our community and beyond. Erin Timms’ nomination letter tells of Sarah’s history in Olympia, building a barely existing racing program into a year-round program with 75 youth racers and a summer program serving well over 400 youth each year.

Sarah’s vision for youth sailing in our community led to the creation of the nonprofit Olympia Community Sailing in order to grow the program beyond the physical and financial constraints of Olympia Yacht Club. This has allowed Sarah to introduce even more youth to the sport, has created additional jobs for coaches and instructors, and has led to more awareness of sailing as a sport both in the Olympia area and around the Northwest. And on top of all of that, she has been the best coach and role model that any parent could hope for their child to have.
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We are in full support of Sarah’s nomination for Sail 1 Design’s 2025 Coach of the Year.  She has many accomplishments to back it up – the letter from Erin Timms as Board President of Olympia Community Sailing summarizes all that she has done for the sailing community quite nicely.  What a list of accomplishments can’t do, however, is to touch on the intangibles that Sarah has brought to the community over the past 10 years.  My daughter Caleigh somewhat reluctantly signed up for a sailing camp after her freshman year at Olympia High School (Olympia, WA).  She still hadn’t quite found her place in high school and only went to sailing camp because her dad and I thought it sounded super cool and wouldn’t that be a fun way to spend a week in the summer?  Lo and behold, she was one of many who ended up joining the team due to the spirit of inclusion, fun and the understanding that skill sets of all kinds can bring something to the table.  

For the past 3 years, Caleigh has learned SO much from Sarah.  From how to sail but mostly how to move through the world with other people – those who have different backgrounds and think differently from you.  As a complete sailing rookie parent, I have observed, somewhat to my surprise, that sailing is first a people sport – much of it depends on how the skipper and their crew connect and work together and only then can the technical aspects of sailing follow.  

These are life lessons that my now graduating senior will take with her for life.  Sarah has been such a positive female role model and we will be forever grateful to the influence she has had on Caleigh’s high school years.  From a novice sailor to sailing team captain in 3 years – we are so proud of Caleigh, Sarah and OCS/OHS Sailing!  Sarah will be greatly missed as she grows her family but we are so happy for her and Casey to experience parenthood.  We are grateful for the years that Caleigh was able to be in her orbit.

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About Sarah Hanavan:

A former College Sailor, Sarah moved to Olympia in the summer 2014 and started volunteering with the local yacht club sailing program. By Spring of 2015 she was coaching the small but mighty race team composed of just 5 sailors – only 3 of which went to the same high school (Olympia). Olympia had never attended a District Championship. By Fall of 2015 Sarah had recruited over 20 new sailors, building both the Olympia and Capital teams respectively and a Club Race Team as well. Spring 2016 marked the first year Olympia ever competed in both NWISA Fleet and Team Race District Championships. By 2018 Olympia had grown to a 30+ strong team, and after only 3 years as an official team won their first District Championship title and attended their first ever High School National Championship. Sarah’s passion, commitment and enthusiasm for the sport is infectious, and what Sarah lacked in her own Coaching skills she sought to learn from others. Receiving her Instructor Trainer Certification with US Sailing, starting a Women’s Coaching Clinics series, and applying to and graduating from the United States Olympic Committee’s International Coaching Enrichment program with the University of Delaware.

In 2019 Olympia not only repeated their Fleet Race District Championship win but claimed Team Race District Championships as well and attended their first ever Baker Nationals. Olympia has been a dominant team in the NW ever since. Regularly winning Fall Championships, and other qualifiers. Being from the NW, Coach Sarah knows her sailors are at a disadvantage when it comes to the depth and knowledge base that deeper sailing regions have across the country, and has inspired her sailors to travel and attend as many events as possible to broaden their horizons and build skills. She has also championed access for all and built scholarships and funding for travel so that regardless of a sailor’s means, if they are competitive and hungry, they have the opportunities to pursue their passion. To accomplish these things Sarah built up the Olympia Yacht Club Sailing Program until summer enrollments exceeded 400+ sailors, with numerous staff, classes and camps. Eventually it was determined that the program become its own non-profit which would be better suited to the ever-growing organization, and in 2020 Olympia Community Sailing was formed. By 2021 it expanded to a second location, hired additional full-time staff and under Sarah’s leadership became a full-fledged independent community sailing non-profit. Throughout all of these years Sarah was still coaching full time leading the Olympia and Capital High School Teams to new heights and growing an ever more competitive Club Race team. Sarah’s efforts reinvigorated the c420 Class in the NW (after years of dormancy), bringing a much-needed high performance steppingstone class back to the region.

Sarah has been the Northwest Interscholastic Sailing Association’s President for over 3 years, has run numerous Level 1 Courses, and is a leader and mentor in the NW. Alumni from her teams attend schools all across the county: Boston College, Bowdoin, Cal Poly, Coast Guard, Duke, George Washington, University of Washington, Western Washington, Tufts, etc. Many are competitive Collegiate Sailors – just this season her Alumni at Tufts and Bowdoin will be racing in College Team Race and Fleet Race Nationals.

2025 marks Sarah’s 10th year in Olympia and her final season Coaching High School Sailing (for the time being – I have a feeling it will be hard to keep Sarah away!) as she is expecting her first child with her husband Casey and has started a new job with Washington State. At her final Fleet Race District Championship, Olympia soared above the competition and with a 62-point lead claimed their 5th Fleet Race District Championship in 10 years. One might think that Sarah’s greatest accomplishment was building a winning program but she will tell you it was building a culture of inclusion and kindness where her sailors support and truly care about one another.

Sarah and Casey plan to focus on raising their family and doing more of their own sailing in their Tasar and Star, but will continue to support and help Olympia Community Sailing whenever needed.