Shared Worlds

Fizz Galloway, England

Goal Click has teamed up with SailGP to capture the spirit of the league through the eyes of its fans to showcase the emotion, energy, and personal journeys that surround SailGP events.

Fizz is a startup founder building a sailing apparel company with her dad, Neil, whose first live SailGP experience brought together their shared passion for sailing, business, and sport.

Imagine a festival and a Grand Prix had a day out by the sea. It is fast, loud, and thrilling. Even if you have never followed sailing in your life, you would be swept up within minutes.

My name is Fizz, and I am 25 and a startup founder. I am building a sailing apparel brand with my dad, so getting deeper into the sailing world is genuinely my day job, and I am a big sports fan across the board.

The idea for our company came from wanting to launch in the rapidly growing Asian sailing and watersports market. We noticed there was not much out there that felt truly women-centric in terms of style, design and practicality. With women’s sailing - and women’s sports - growing so quickly, it felt like an exciting space to tap into and help develop further.

I have also been lucky enough to go to Wimbledon, Silverstone and plenty of live rugby, and SailGP completely holds its own. It has the speed and spectacle of Silverstone, the edge-of-your-seat tension of a big rugby match, and a relaxed, festival feel that is very much its own thing. What sets it apart is that you are watching elite sport happening out on open water, which gives it a scale and backdrop nothing on a track or indoors can match.

Sailing came into my life through two people. First, my friend Laura did the Clipper Round the World Race, and following her journey got me hooked on the sport and everything it demands. My dad has also followed SailGP, so it was always on my radar at home.

I knew SailGP as the fast, high-tech side of sailing, the version of the sport that actually flies and had absorbed a fair bit without ever seeing it live. What tipped me into going was wanting to experience it with my own eyes rather than through a screen, especially now that sailing is such a big part of what I do. Portsmouth felt like the perfect first one, home waters and a proper British crowd.

You genuinely cannot gauge how fast these boats go from watching on TV, and seeing it in person is a completely different experience. The precision and nerve involved in racing that tightly, at that pace, on water, was far more impressive up close than I had ever appreciated from home.

A Rare Balance

I went to the Emirates Great Britain Sail Grand Prix in Portsmouth with my dad, Neil. We are building an apparel company together, so sailing is genuinely our shared world now, not just a day out.

Experiencing SailGP side by side felt right, part research, part passion, part father-daughter time. He has followed the sport for years, and I am the newer, more wide-eyed one, so it was fun seeing it through both perspectives at the same time.

On the day, I was firmly behind Emirates GBR for the home-crowd loyalty, but I also found myself cheering on the Australian team, the BONDS Flying Roos. When neither made it through to the final, I switched my allegiance to NorthStar, the Canadian team, and got completely invested in their race. That is the fun of being new - you pick your side in the moment and ride with them.

The moment that stayed with me was the German team’s near-capsize. Seeing a boat come that close to going over, right in front of you, is one of those things that really lands in person in a way it just does not on TV.

The atmosphere overall was buzzing, especially on finals day, with the crowd really getting stuck into the racing, brilliant music, great food, and all of it right on the water. It felt like a proper event, not just a race. It strikes a rare balance: Serious sport that does not take itself too seriously, so everyone feels included.

Portsmouth completely won me over, and I am already looking forward to my next one. Between building a sailing brand and now catching the SailGP bug in person, I do not think I will be watching from the sidelines for long, because I am hoping to start sailing soon.

My dad recently took a sailing course, and I am planning to learn when I move to Hong Kong in the autumn. Having grown up around sailing there, and now launching our sailing brand in Hong Kong, it feels like the perfect time to get out on the water, learn the basics and see where it takes me - especially with SailGP kicking off its 2027 season in Hong Kong!