It may not yet be the America’s Cup, but Dawson and fellow foiling multihull sailor, Liv Mackay, have been given the opportunity to try to “bridge the gap” – sailing with the Peter Burling and Blair Tuke’s maiden New Zealand crew in the global Sail GP series. Burling, who’s right now at the wheel of the Cup defender Emirates Team New Zealand, is on the same page as Dawson and Mackay – he sees no reason why women can’t sail in today’s America’s Cup. But what’s holding them back, he says, is the lack of experience on fast, hi-tech flying machines, and the knowledge to know how to handle them.
Leslie Egnot at the 1995 America s Cup.
Photo: Supplied
But in 1995, against all odds Egnot led an-all women s team which came excruciatingly close to beating Conner s Stars and Stripes for the right to defend the America s Cup against Team New Zealand.
When the America s Cup cycle rolls around memories of that campaign start flooding back to Egnot.
Team New Zealand of course made history in 95 when they won the America s Cup for the first time but there was another major story line in San Diego, and Egnot was smack bang in the middle of it.
From the controversy of a man being substituted on to the boat and a back room deal which saw Conner s team survive to make it to the final, the women s journey in the Cup had all the makings of a classic sports movie.