Sisters sights set on Seoul

Press, 15 May 1987, Page 20

Sisters sights set on Seoul

The Canterbury yachting sisters, Jenny and Leslie Egnot, are to team up again in an effort to earn selection for the Olympic team to Seoul next year.

The pair who are making a bid to be New Zealand’s first female yachting representatives at an Olympic Games have had considerable international experience, and sailed together in France in 1985, and last year in Spain. The two sisters made a break from top yachting after finishing tenth in the world 470 championships in Spain, to allow Jenny, aged 18, to concentrate on her studies at Hagley High School. Leslie, 24, moved to Auckland this summer to gain more experience and competition and teamed up With the young Auckland yachtswoman, Carla Bennett, and won the national women’s title in Tauranga.

The Egnots are to follow much the same programme as last year and will compete on the European circuit in a new Marton 470 yacht in their preparation for the Olympic trials. Leslie Egnot who was keen to sail in the I.Y.R.U. women’s world championships in Greece, has been told she is ineligible because of a crew change. The sisters will start their campaign with the Spa regatta at Medemblik in Holland, and move on to the Kiel week regatta, followed by the 470 world championships alsd at Kiel.

Jenny, who wanted the break from her studies after a busy season on the water last year, is keen again, said her father Mr Gene Egnot The two girls have won numerous provincial, South Island, and national titles in the class and leave for Europe on May 21.