Creating opportunity is only the start. For Emirates GBR, lasting impact means supporting people to progress, develop and ultimately open the door for whoever comes next.
Through its work with Athena Pathway, Emirates GBR is helping build pathways into professional sailing for talented young people who may not otherwise have had access to the opportunities and support needed to progress within the sport.
The programme combines bursaries, tailored development plans and industry exposure, connecting an initial opportunity with a pathway for progression both on and off the water.
At the heart of that approach is a simple idea: one opportunity can create another.
From opportunity to role model
Kai Hockley’s journey demonstrates what can happen when an opportunity is backed by continued development.
Coming into the Emirates GBR sailing and shore team from an inner-city London school, Kai Hockley has followed a long-term development pathway with Athena Pathway. Since 2024, Kai Hockley has gained an F50 licence, become a reserve sailor and progressed from apprentice to a core member of the shore team.
Along the way, Kai Hockley has worked across 34 SailGP events, while spending 420 minutes onboard the F50 in the G2 position in 2026, developing sailing experience alongside shore-team skills.
But the next stage of that journey is about more than individual progression.
Kai Hockley has increasingly used personal experience to help inspire others. Through engagement with young people and sharing that journey with a wider audience, including through SailGP’s Racing on the Edge series, Kai Hockley is helping make pathways into professional sailing more visible.
Now, that opportunity is helping to create the next one.
Creating the next opportunity
In 2026, Corneille LePrince joined Athena Pathway on a paid, year-long sailing development internship, providing another route into professional sailing and marine careers.
The programme combines sailing development with industry and shore-team experience, supported by a personalised development plan for Corneille LePrince’s on and off-water goals.
Corneille LePrince is working towards ambitions in Olympic sailing and ultimately becoming an F50 wing trimmer, developing the experience and skills needed to progress towards the highest levels of the sport.
Crucially, the pathway does not start again from scratch.
Alongside his sailing development, Corneille LePrince is gaining hands-on experience within the Emirates GBR shore team, shadowing and learning from Kai Hockley and building the practical and industry skills needed to operate within a professional SailGP team. As Corneille develops within the shore team, it also allows Kai to spend more time focusing on his own sailing development and ambition to race onboard the F50.
Building pathways, not one-off opportunities
The ambition is not simply to open the door once. It is to create the support, experience and environment that allow people to progress and, in time, help create opportunities for others.
Athena Pathway uses financial support, tailored performance development and exposure to the professional sailing industry to help develop talent into professional sailing and leadership roles.
For Emirates GBR, Kai Hockley and Corneille LePrince demonstrate how that approach can build momentum: an opportunity leading to development, development creating a role model and that role model helping the next person take a step forward.
Because lasting change isn't about creating one opportunity.
Don't just create an opportunity. Create the next one.
Pay it forward.
#RaceForTheFuture