Norwegian sailor keen to improve

Press, 21 February 1986, Page 14

Norwegian sailor keen to improve

A leading -•Norwegian yachtswoman and International class skipper, Grethe Halvorsen, has returned to New Zealand to better her sailing technique, and to learn and prepare herself to skip and sail the 470 Olympic class.

She first came to New Zealand in 1983, and competed in the world Laser class championships in Auckland. Halvorsen, whose world ranking is sixth in the Laser class, is an experienced sailing instructor and has been coaching for the last 10 years for the Norwegian Yachting Federation. The 27-year-old sport and physical education teacher first represented her country in 1979. She comes from a sailing family — her father is the commodore of the Kragero Yacht Club in the south of Norway.

Halvorsen first became interested in sailing at the age of 10 years, and for the first two years learnt the skills of sailing in Optimist dinghies before moving into the Laser class. In 1979 she won her first Norwegian title at the women’s Laser championships and successfully retained her title in 1980 before the title was combined with the men’s championship. In her first entry into

the international yachting scene she finished twenty-third at the Laser world championships sailed at Rochester, New York. She then steadily progressed through the rankings, picking up a third place at the European championships sailed In Copenhagen in 1980.

Halvorsen also had a big year in 1981, finishing sixteenth in the international women’s yachting series held in Norway.

On her first visit to New Zealand in 1983 she finished sixteenth in the world Laser championships at Auckland, which was won by Marit Soderstrom, of Sweden, the current world champion.

/Halvorsen continued to improve her ranking, and in 1984 she finished ninth at the world series in Scotland and was runner-up to Solderstrbm in the Swedish championship. Last year was also memorable for her. She won numerous titles and finished sixth at the world series in Sweden. In her preparation for championship events, Halvorsen starts sailing in the early spring when there is still ice in the fiords and snow on the ground. She said that sailing in zero temperatures was considerably difficult in bulky clothing and that she could not generally sail any longer than an hour at a time in the harsh conditions. Since arriving in New Zealand she has been involved in coaching with the New Zealand Yachting Federation. In her preparation for the Olympic Games, she has been crewing with a number of leading Canterbury 470 sailors. She intends returning to Norway in April to ready herself for Olympic selection trials for the 1988 Olympic Games at Seoul. She also plans to compete in the world 470 championships in Spain in August. BRYCE SIMS