Ten-year old develops new racing aid

Now aged ten, Evie, based in Hamble, UK, has used this gift as inspiration to create an innovative, hands-on tool kit to support sailing education and tactical development, turning her passion for sailing into a new business venture – The Crazy Cow.

Evie’s first product, Top Tactics, is a set of model Optimist dinghies designed to help sailors of all ages and abilities improve their racing tactics through hands-on, visual learning.

The idea for the model dinghies began while Evie was training and dreaming of competing in international regattas.

She wanted a way to practice racing at home — to visualise the start line, the marks, and the situations that happen out on the water. The result was the creation of a homemade tool consisting of a kit of model boats, marks, and course cards to help her think through race strategies.

Evie has now transformed her idea into a unique coaching set that sailors and coaches everywhere can use to make racing tactics clear, simple, and fun, refining the design of Top Tactics to ensure its user-friendly and durable for all levels.

“I created Top Tactics because I wanted a way to practice racing and understand situations off the water,” said Evie.

“My hope is that it helps other sailors, like it’s helped me, to better understand racing and feel more confident when they’re on the start line.”

The Top Tactics set includes four Optimist dinghies, a committee boat, racing buoys, pin marks, flags, and course cards.

And Evie already has plans to expand the range to other classes of boats and is able to ship the products worldwide.