Biography

Where from: Grantham, Lincolnshire

Nautical miles logged: 40,000nm

Hannah Brewis, 26, from Grantham joins the lineup of Race Skippers leading their teams around the world on the 2023-24 edition of the global yacht race. Whilst young in years, Hannah has sailed her whole life, and amassed over 40,000nm through offshore racing and instructing on both the Clipper Race and around Europe. She also joins five other previous AQPs who have stepped up to the top accolade for the upcoming edition.

Hannah got into sailing from a young age, and racing dinghies competitively on Rutland Water with her school. At 16, Hannah experienced sailing on board the tall ships race from Latvia to Poland and was immediately inspired to pursue a career in yachting, and went on to work as a flotilla skipper and cruising instructor in Greece, alongside doing yacht deliveries in the Mediterranean and across the Bay of Biscay to build her mileage and experience.

Sailing on the Clipper Race has always been a dream of Hannah’s, so when the opportunity arose a few years later to join the postponed 2019-20 edition of the race as an AQP, Hannah immediately applied, and fast forward a few months, stepped on board Seattle for the second half of the circumnavigation, ticking off a North Pacific and North Atlantic crossing and clocking over 20,000nm alongside David Hartshorn, who is also returning as a Skipper on the upcoming edition.

Following the last edition, Hannah set her sights firmly on becoming a Skipper. Motivated by enabling each and every crew member to progress, Hannah’s ambition as a Race Skipper is to create a confident team, and the results will follow. A naturally energetic individual, Hannah plans to keep the team’s spirits up with good humour, and by constantly developing her crew to be the best they can be.

Not one to sit still, since the previous edition of the race, Hannah has been working hard on and off the water in both training and refit. However, in the small periods of time when Hannah isn’t sailing, she’s spending time in the mountains in the north of the UK, and generally getting out and exploring.