Betsy Alison

Currently from Newport, RI, Betsy Alison is the Director of Adult Education Programs for US Sailing.  Her

primary focuses are the development and promotion of education programs like Safety at Sea, Keelboat,

Powerboat and Adaptive sailing to grow participation of sailors and other boaters in the USA. Prior to her

current position, Betsy served as the Head Paralympic Sailing Coach for the USA from 2000 through 2016

where US sailors earned 7 Paralympic medals. 

Betsy was the first female sailor inducted into the National Sailing Hall of Fame in the 2011 inaugural class.

She is a 5-time Rolex Yachtswoman of the Year, the only person male or female to have been honored that

number of times.

Betsy has won World Championship and National titles in many sailing disciplines and classes including the

Shields class (2x National Champion 2018; 2015), Women’s Match Racing (World and National), Yngling

Open Worlds (2003) and Lightning class (1985), Adams Cup (5x Champion), Rolex International Women’s

Keelboat Championship (5x Champion) to name a few.  In November of 2005, she was honored by the

Pierre de Coubertin International Fair Play Committee with a diploma in the career category for her ongoing

contributions to the sport of sailing and its participants.  Betsy currently serves as the Chair of the Para World

Sailing Committee at World Sailing and sits on the World Sailing Council.

Recently, Betsy underwent major surgery which left her with a permanent disability, making her eligible to

represent the USA in Para Sailing competition.  She is looking forward to the opportunity to represent the

USA at the 2023 Allianz World Championships in the Netherlands (August) in the Hansa 303 Female Class.

She received her BA at Jackson College of Tufts University in Medford, Massachusetts.  Betsy has been a

part of the National Training Faculty for US Sailing since 1990 and is a Master Trainer for the development

of coaches and instructors for that organization.  She co-authored the current Level 2 and Level 3 training

manuals for coaches in training for US Sailing as well as the Adaptive Sailing manual, and routinely

contributes to other publications.

Betsy works closely with Dr. Anne Allen of SailSportMed on many projects involving athletes with

disabilities including safety studies, classification systems and accessibility issues. Along with Dr. Allen

she co-authored a comprehensive sports medicine paper on “Sport Safety in Sailing” which was based on

direct results of study done at the 2004 Paralympic Games in Athens.  It was presented to the International

Paralympic Committee in March of 2005 and was utilized by organizers of both the 2008 and 2012

Paralympic Games in the development of their sailing facilities.