What is Flow State Sailing?
Flow State is a psychology concept, more casually described in being "in the groove". It is when you are so immersed in doing an activity that nothing else seems to matter - the experience of doing the acitvity is so rewarding that you will keep going back to it for the sheer sake of being involved.
Annie, Sarah, Lindsay, and Megan make up Flow State Sailing: a group of four female offshore sailors who have dreamed of blue water sailing all their lives. We started our offshore adventures together during the 2018 Newport to Bermuda Race as some of the founding members of the MudRatz Youth Offshore Sailing Team. During those five days at sea, we found ourselves in the most intense flow state we’ve ever experienced. We were hooked and now we can’t get enough.
From January to May 2021, we campaigned together for the 51st edition of the Transpacific Yacht Race, a 2,000+ nautical mile race from San Pedro, Los Angeles, CA to the famous Diamond Head buoy off of Honolulu, HI. We had an epic training week in Hawaii, but sadly our boat did not make it to the starting line. That's not the end of our adventures together! There's always another opportunity around the corner. To learn more about us and our plans, check out this website and get on our email list to be subscribed to our blog. Want to do more? Learn how to support our goals here! You won’t regret it. Big things are in store...
Lindsay Gimple
Lindsay is based in Stonington, CT, where she sails, SUPs, and catches the gorgeous Connecticut summer sunsets. She attended Cornell University where she raced for Cornell’s Varsity Sailing Team, appearing in two ICSA’s Women’s National Championships. She holds a bachelors degree in mechanical engineering and worked as an engineer focused on submarine systems and valves. She is graduating with a masters degree in Sports Leadership in 2022. Lindsay was the safety officer and watch captain for the MudRatz’s Classic Swan 48, Dreamcatcher, for their Class 5 win in the 2018 Newport Bermuda Race. In 2019, she was the program lead and co-skipper of Dreamcatcher for the Marblehead to Halifax Ocean Race, where the team took 2nd in class. Most recently, she has competed in the 2021 Fastnet Race and 2022 Round Ireland Race.
Lindsay is an alum of The Magenta Project’s Mentoring Program and remains involved in their mission of advancing women in performance sailing through her work as a board member. She has recently also gotten involved with the Cruising Club of America and the New York Yacht Club, where she is training to be a club judge and umpire. She tries to give back by teaching, coaching, and speaking whenever she can fit it in!
Annie Longo
Currently, Annie is living in Charleston, SC with her roommate and former high school 420 crew, Sarah, where they both work on and around boats. Soon, she’s heading back to her hometown, Mystic, CT where she will spend her third consecutive summer as the head instructor of the junior sailing program at Ram Island Yacht Club (Lindsay’s former job!).
Annie started sailing at Masons Island Yacht Club in Optis, where she fell in love with the ocean and the sport of sailing at 6 years old. She went on to compete in high school and collegiate sailing and has raced a variety of different boats, including the Swan 48 Dreamcatcher with the MudRatz Youth Offshore Sailing Team in their 2018 and 2019 seasons. One of her favorite boats to sail is the
Mystic River Mudheads beloved J24 DZB, as co-skipper and bow-woman. Annie is a proud member of the Sails Up 4 Cancer Executive Board and a mentee in both the Magenta Project and 11th Hour Next Gen mentoring programs. Annie graduated from the University of Connecticut in May 2020 where she wrote her thesis on the politics of ocean plastic pollution. She is taking this momentum with her onto all the boat she sails, creating a sustainability plans big and small to limit the environmental impact of the boat. For Annie, competing offshore is about more than just the race; it’s about reconnecting with nature and taking the opportunity to share with others the importance of environmental protection.
Sarah Wilkinson
Hailing from Mystic, Connecticut, Sarah grew up on the water, taking her first sail at just 6 weeks old aboard her family's Evelyn 25.5 Prophet. She started junior sailing at Ram Island Yacht Club at age 6 but admits that sailing wasn’t her favorite sport until she was introduced to the Melges 24, when her passion for sailing became a passion for racing. Since then, she competed with Annie in high school sailing and then advanced into varsity offshore sailing while attending the College of Charleston. Sarah placed 1st in class, winning the Stephens Brother Youth Prize in the 2018 Newport Bermuda Race with the MudRatz Youth Offshore Sailing Team and is also a member of The Magenta Project Mentoring Program.
Recently, she has been active in the IC37 and VXOne classes. She has been spending time offshore in the SORC
Islands In the Stream Series aboard J44 Kenai, taking home first in class and fleet in two separate races, helping to secure Kenai’s spot as the overall winner of the 2021 series. Sarah has a passion for photography and performs in regatta media roles in her spare time, capturing media and optimizing her clients social media marketing. Sarah sails whenever she can -catch her organizing and competing in the VXOne Womens Championship in August!
Megan Gimple
Megan Gimple is an American offshore sailor based in Rhode Island. She got her start in offshore sailing with the youth sailing program, MudRatz, where she sailed her first Newport Bermuda Race in 2018, winning the class and finishing as the top youth boat. Since then, Megan has taken leadership roles on numerous offshore campaigns, including as watch captain for the MudRatz’s 2019 Marblehead to Halifax 2nd in class effort and more recently J122 Alliance's 2nd overall finish in the 2023 Annapolis to Newport Race. Her race highlights include multiple Newport Bermuda Races, the Marblehead to Halifax Ocean Race, Annapolis to Newport, Ida Lewis Distance Race, and the Rolex Fastnet Race. Megan also is active in the Mixed+ division of the J70 fleet, winning the Mixed+ division in the J/70 Midwinters Championship Southernmost regatta in 2023.
Megan holds a bachelor's degree in Ocean Engineering and, when she is not racing, is studying for a masters degree in Ocean Engineering at the University of Rhode Island. Her thesis focuses on advancing near field wave sensing technology for the implication in floating offshore wind turbines (FOWTs) stabilization and efficiency.
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Thank you for supporting our journey!
Thank you to all who are following our story. We appreciate all the words of support, excitement, and advice! This has been an intense experience so far, and we are so thankful for the friends, family, and mentors that are helping along the way.
If you are interested in supporting the young women of Flow State Sailing in our mission to compete in sailing with environmental sustainability, gender equality, and leadership development as our main goals, please consider donating via our PayPal. If you are interested in other ways to support, reach out to us!