Young sailor Rachael Betschart has raised $10,000 for women’s charities after completing her second sail around the island.

Six years after Betschart circumnavigated Bermuda in her Optimist dinghy in ten hours, the 19-year-old took to the sea in her Waszp, completing the counterclockwise journey in four hours to provide much needed funds for the Next Generation Scholarship Fund and the Magenta Project.

This time around Betschart knew what to expect but the physical challenge provided by the Waszp was still tough to overcome.

“I’d been around Bermuda once before in an Opti, so I knew what was coming,” Betschart said.

“But the challenge this time is that I was in a boat that demands more physically, so exhaustion kicked in quite early. Normally if I go out in a training session, it will be for about three hours, so to do four and a half hours non stop is really exhausting.

“There is a mental and physical aspect to sailing around the island. When I was 13 in it was more a mental challenge. Ten hours was hard to keep focused and keep pushing especially when you are coming down North Shore you can see the end but it seems so far away.

“This time round it took less than half the time but was a hugely physical challenge.

The two beneficiaries from the weekend exertions are charities that help aspiring sailors forge careers on the water and Betschart is passionate about giving back.

“The Next Generation Fund is a programme that helps aspiring sailors get into the sport,” Betschart said.

“Sailing is notoriously very expensive when you consider the equipment, the clothing you need to be safe and the boat, so it adds up very quickly.

“The fund helps to remove as many barriers as possible for people to get into the sport. That’s important because there is so much talent out there and a lot of people are not abl to pursue the sport because of those barriers, so this programme allows sailors to break through.

“The Magenta Project involves sailing and Stem-related jobs to give women the opportunity to get into marine careers. It has mentoring, which allows more students to attain those skills and make their way in that world. A lot of females, not me personally, have had trouble getting into sailing as a sport and proving that they are as good as anybody else.”

Betschart has a big month coming up with the 2025 Waszp Games, the equivalent of the World Championships, taking place in Weymouth, England, from July 19 to 25. Before that, the teenager is in action in a warm-up event on Lake Como in Italy.

“A lot of people from around the world are coming to Italy next week with 120 to 130 boats expected,” Betschart said. It’s a big event in its own right but people are using it as a warm-up for the Waszp World Championships in July.

“That will be my first world championship in the Waszp. I know what to expect but at the same time I don’t.

The Lake Como regatta will help me to gauge my goal but I hope to be in the top third of the fleet at least. It’s going to be challenging because there are so many great sailors out there but that seems like something to shoot for.“