Sailing ‘isn’t supposed to be easy’ and Ellie Aldridge wouldn’t have it any other way

Her British team-mate Michael Beckett coined that phrase in the aftermath of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games Test Event and it certainly rings true in Aldridge’s Formula Kite class, one of the new kids on the Olympic block for 2024.

USA’s Daniela Moroz was the class of the fleet in 2022, taking wins at Palma, Hyères and the Formula Kite World Championships.

In 2023 Lauriane Nolot of France is leading the way – she was victorious at the first World Cup, French Olympic Week and then took an impressive win at the Test Event on home waters.

However, Aldridge has been super consistent throughout, finishing outside of the top three in just one of her last 12 major competitions.

“The competition just gets harder every year, everyone is getting better and better,” she said. “Every year it’s harder to stay in the top group, even the top ten is hard to stay in. I’ll stay near the front if I can, stay out of trouble.

“It’s really fun, travelling the world, doing all the events with some of your best friends. We’ve got a really tight group, but we are all pushing each other so it’s always a competition.”

Aldridge originally got into kitesurfing aged 18 when a friend taught her just for fun. She lapsed and spent a year off the water, meaning she had to re-teach herself.

In 2018, the Royal Yachting Association opened a talent identification programme for kitefoilers when the discipline was added to the Olympic programme and Aldridge was one of the early adopters.

“I’m always on the water,” she said. “I like wing-foiling when I’m not competing so sometimes after training I’ll go winging. Any other kiting as well, I like just going out for fun. Twin-tipping or wave-riding.”

Aldridge took an impressive silver at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games Test Event, whetting the appetite for a prospective Olympic debut next summer.

Her next focus will be the Allianz Sailing World Championships and she can secure a quota place for Team GB with a top-eight finish in The Hague.

“My main goal is to qualify my nation at the worlds and hopefully get on the podium or close to the podium,” she said.

“It was so cool to practise for the Olympics in the Olympic venue, but no one has actually qualified yet. So, it’s going to be all for it at the worlds, everyone is going to be gunning for it.

“I really liked the venue, it’s got a really nice backdrop, it’s very picturesque and it’s very different. We go to a lot of places where the conditions are all very similar, or you know what you are getting every day, whereas here, every day is different.

“You don’t know what you are getting until you are there, so it mixes it up a bit.”

For full coverage of the 2023 Allianz Sailing World Championships, The Hague, please visit our dedicated event website.