May 9, 2026
2 minutes reading time
Sailor's Insight: The benefits of neighbourly collaboration by Henriette Smith
Henriette Smith is a leading Norwegian para inclusive sailor, recognised for her successes and commitment to inclusivity. As "Team Sailing Grace," alongside Solfrid Kvinnesland, she competes in the RS Venture Connect class where they became Para World Champions in 2023 and continue to consistently rank among the top in their category. Recently she took part in a joint Swedish-Norwegian training event in Gothenburg, here she shares her experience...
The Royal Gothenburg Yacht Club, led by Karin Knigge, invited us to Gothenburg for a training weekend to kick off the season. With Björn Johansson, Head Coach of Team Sweden at Sydney 2000 and Athens 2004, and Paralympic coach, leading us through the weekend, it made for a really good start to the sailing year.
Despite freezing cold temperatures and a bit of drizzle, the continuation of Swedish/Norwegian combined training outside of event programmes and formal clinics was a real success.
Meeting sailors I hadn’t seen since our last session in Asker two years ago was fantastic. This was also the first MNA-organised combined camp we’ve attended, and I really enjoyed being there simply as a sailor.
It has taken some time to find the right balance between sailor-organised and MNA-organised weekends, but this one felt like things finally clicked. And as they say, the proof is in the pudding; when other sailors come up to you asking for a repeat of the last one, you know you’re onto something. There’s clearly a real appetite for well-planned, calendar-based combined training.
The overall vibe was simple: we love these sessions. Both for the social side and for what we get out of it on the water. Now that things are starting to synchronise, I can easily see us turning up in Sweden each spring like slightly overexcited sailor chicks with boats in tow.
With five boats (11 sailors) on the water, we had perfect conditions to work on the hard stuff – everything from gusty middle wind to light and shifting breeze. We spent time on starting procedures, upwind battles, and tactical decisions like gate mark choices. Just as importantly, the coaching room gave us space to work on communication, which carried straight into the on-water sessions.
I would definitely encourage other countries to do the same as we have and as I know France and Switzerland are already doing. Get more boats together, pool resources, and you get so much more out of the time between events, coaching clinics, and IDPs.
We’re already crossing our fingers that people bring boats to Portugal and take up the invitation to leave them in Portimão over the winter. It would be amazing to build on this and have regular winter training together.