Gosford sailor Bridget Conrad has been selected as the Australian female representative for the Waszp Inspire program at the SailGP event in San Francisco next month.
Conrad, 21, qualified in February and will now go on to represent Australia against 10 other countries after also coming second female in the American Waszp Championships in Hawaii a couple months ago.
Set to leave Australia this week, Conrad said she was looking forward to the six-week sailing excursion.
First stop will be Foiling Week in Lake Garda Italy, where she will also be participating in an international women’s sailing program called The Magenta Project.
Following that she will head to Halifax Canada for some more training prior to the SailGP finals in San Francisco and from there she heads to the 2024 Waszp Worlds in Norway.
By the end of the six weeks, Conrad hopes to be named the female Waszp champion of the world with an eye on the 2028 Olympics.
Conrad fell in love with sailing following a school excursion in Year 6 to Gosford Sailing Club following Central Coast sailor Tom Slingsby’s gold medal win in London.
“He’s been my idol forever,” Conrad said.
“He autographed my hand that day and I retraced it for months afterward.”
Even though Conrad lived right near Gosford Sailing Club, she had no interest in the sport until that day.
“My parents thought I should get into sailing, and I thought it was scary at first, but then I found out I was pretty good at it,” she said.
Conrad has now been sailing competitively since the age of 12 and said she enjoys the challenge of new boats, new designs and increasing speed and has won many titles and championships both in Australia and overseas.