News Around the World
With the well-practised former Artemis helm Nathan Outteridge in the driver’s seat Team Japan had a solid first round of the SailGP series winning day one and ending up second overall after having to settle for second best in the match race final to Tom Slingsby’s Team Australia. Russell Coutts’ SailGP organisers were genuinely unlucky when Sydney delivered some relatively soft breezes but there was still enough honk for Slingsby’s crew to record a burst just shy of 49kt in training – not bad for a ‘production’ sail boat
dyslexia – but to find the standard of competition necessary to take her to Olympic level and beyond meant constant travel and long periods away from home. By the time any significant local competition became available in the form of Bay of Islands Sailing Week, established in 2002, she had already competed in the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, finishing fifth in the Europe class, and was on her way around the world on the all-women crew on Amer Sports 2 in the Volvo Ocean Race. Her continuing racing career saw her go on to a second Olympic
campaign in Athens in 2004 in the short-lived Yngling class, and compete in two round-the-world multihull campaigns, the first an all-women Jules Verne attempt led by Tracy Edwards on Royal Sun Alliance (formerly Sir Peter Blake’s Enza) and the second in the Oryx Quest event organised by Tracy Edwards. The Jules Verne came to an end after Royal Sun Alliance was
dismasted in the Southern Ocean. In the Oryx Quest, Ferris was one of two women aboard race winner Doha(formerly Grant Dalton’s Club Med), skippered by Briton Brian Thompson. Then came something of a hiatus as she married and started
a family. In the past couple of years, however, she has come back into international sailing with a hiss and a roar: as skipper of an all-women squad in the Extreme Sailing Series, competing in a mixed-gender crew on the GC32 circuit and also skippering an all- woman crew on the Crowther 40 trimaran Ave Gitana in events closer to home. For the Extreme Sailing Series Ferris assembled an international
squad of highly talented women including Dee Caffari, Sally Barkow, Annie Lush and former youth world champion Annabel Vose. This January found her in charge of another all-female crew of
a different stripe. Sailing in home waters in the Bay of Islands event, she borrowed a Mull 9.5 from local public relations friend Helen Horrocks, and brought three generations of her family onboard: her mother, Pauline Ferris, her two daughters, Sofia (10) and Victoria (5), plus Alice Auket, an ex-pupil from Kerikeri High School whom
22 SEAHORSE
Sharon coached. At the last minute three more local girls heard about the campaign and asked to join in. ‘I have done this regatta a few times,’ Sharon says. ‘Over the years it used to clash with Olympic regattas, but whenever I was home I would do it.’ Conceived by British cruisers Tony and Nina Keff, who arrived in
New Zealand aboard their Nicholson 35 in 1992, the Bay of Islands regatta has gone from strength to strength. ‘I had done a couple of Cowes Weeks and Round the Island races,’ recalls Tony, who worked for Camper & Nicholsons before heading off on their cruise. ‘I just thought this would be a great venue for a regatta.’ Although the pair knew nothing about running a regatta they soon
found local support including from Ray Haslar, one of New Zealand’s best-known skippers. The regatta began with 37 entries... it now boasts 116 entries across 11 divisions. Still competing in their Nicholson 35, and now with their two New Zealand-born sons, the Keffs are clearly still amazed at how fast their creation blossomed! For Sharon sailing with her family was a great opportunity. ‘We
ended up about mid-fleet in our division but I was quite happy with that. The result was not the goal. The goal was to have fun and get the girls wanting to come back for more. We achieved both. It was plenty good enough just to see their confidence grow on the water.’ It may have been firmly directed at having fun, but it also under-
lined a theme of women in sailing about which she is passionate. Ferris is an ambassador and mentor for the Magenta Project, which grew out of the Team SCA all-women crew led by Sam Davies in the 2014-15 Volvo Race, and promotes access and opportunities for women in sailing. She is also reconnecting with Tracy Edwards, whose current project with the restored Maiden involves a two-year round-the-world mission to raise funds for small to medium-sized charities that facilitate girls into education. As part of her commitment to the cause Ferris participated in a
forum during the Bay of Islands week led by Raynor Haagh as part of a longterm Yachting New Zealand project to create new pathways to encourage young girls to continue in sailing, whether as a social
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