Sisters setting sail for Europe

Press, 31 May 1985, Page 21

Sisters setting sail for Europe

The Canterbury 470 fleet winter yachting series at Mount Pleasant has given the Egnot sisters, Leslie (left) and Jenny, the chance to trim their sails in readiness for two significant overseas regattas in August and September. However, the sailing sisters will not be able to work out in their boat much longer. Next month it will be shipped to Tilbury in England where it will be stored until collected by the Egnots, who will fly to Britain in the first week of August. The pioneer spirit is very much alive in Leslie, aged 22, and Jenny, aged 16. They intend to buy a car and trailer in England and take their yacht to the open 470 class world championship in Marina di Carrara, Italy, from August 23 to September 1, then make a hasty

trip to La Rochelie, France, for the women’s world championship from September 5 to 15. It will be an expensive enterprise. The Egnots expect the trip to cost about $12,600 of which $2600 has been raised by grants and sponsorships. The deficit is considerable and the sisters would welcome any further assistance. Although the girls face substantial extra costs by

taking their own yacht, they feel that it is imperative to sail their own boat. Previous experience has shown that it is a risky business hiring a boat overseas and their tight schedule does not allow them time to familiarise themselves with another boat and make any necessary adjustments. The two championships also signal the start of a build-up campaign which

the two sisters hope will be capped by selection in the New Zealand Olympic Games team for 1988. A women’s 470 class championship is expected to be part of the Games regatta in Seoul. The Egnots, the top women’s crew at the last New Zealand 470 class championship, have decided to compete in the open world championship before the women’s championship mainly to give Jenny more experience in fleet sailing at the highest level. Leslie Egnot is an old salt, having been in the first women’s double-handed crew to represent New Zealand. She competed in the world 470 s in Sardinia several years ago. In November, 1983, Leslie and another Canterbury sailor, Michelle Holland, joined forces to finish

runner-up to a French crew at the women's world championship in Auckland. The French girls, especially as they will be sailing on home waters in La Rochelle, will be fancied again for this year’s world title. After competing in preOlympic regattas in January and February last year, Leslie Egnot had a break from sailing. But, proving her versatility in sport, she toured the United States with the University of Canterbury Skellerup volleyball team. The Egnots are not the only Canterbury sailors heading for foreign seas. A promising Charteris Bay yachtsman, Nigel Soper, aged 19, left this week to spend the winter competing on the European OK class circuit. Soper has mapped out an intensive programme, start-

ing with the Dutch national championship at Medemblik in early July. He will then sail in the world OK championship at the same venue from July 6 to 13 before competing in the Nordic championship near Copenhagen from July 16 to 20 and the Danish national championship at Hornbaek from July 31 to August 4. The talented Soper, who has twice sailed overseas in the Laser class, qualified for the world championship by finishing third at the New Zealand championship in New Plymouth. The winner, Leith Armit, who won the 1983 world title, will also compete in the two series in the Netherlands. Soper, too, will sail his own boat and, as with the Egnots, it will be a costly exercise. He expects to have to find about $lO,OOO. 808 SCHUMACHER