Hi, I'm Annie.
– here's the rest of it@_annie_sails on Instagram →
12,000+ followers and growing
Platform engineering, mostly.
I'm a Lead Platform Engineer at Mantel. The actual work is the kind of thing that's hard to describe at parties: infrastructure as code, pipelines, shift left, networking. But in short, I'm responsible for designing and building the infrastructure other engineers work on.
I learnt to code at university and never quite shook the habit – and it turns out that mindset translates straight to offshore racing: systems thinking, preparation, and staying calm when things go sideways at 3am.
- Lead Platform Engineer at Mantel
- Women in AI Awards APAC · finalist, 2026
- Product owner & developer of CoastQ
How I ended up offshore.
I first started sailing at school, but reservoir sailing in Yorkshire gets bleak and cold pretty quickly. I got onto bigger boats through cruising, and when I moved over to Australia I thought it was a great chance to make the most of both. The more I sailed, the more I found like-minded people and a community that made me want to invest in the sport.
I started inshore. Then ocean races as crew. Then more responsibility. And eventually the realisation that what I actually wanted was a smaller boat, fewer people, more decisions of my own. That's double-handed racing with Peter Winter: two people, one boat, everything on you.
A decade of racing and more than 10,000 offshore nautical miles. Here's the track record so far:
Driving change, in sailing and in engineering.
To make the ocean more accessible and get more people sailing. To show that diversity of thought is an advantage. Racing around the world is the target.
To show engineering skills can go anywhere – better data, clearer information, tools anyone can use.
A few more from the camera roll.
Next stop: Marseille.
This September I'm representing Australia at the Offshore Mixed Double-Handed World Championships.
The road to the Worlds →