Having Jo at our breakfast meeting was truly exciting with Jo describing their sheer grit and determination to take out silver, having been 21 points down at the Rio Olympics.  Jo is a remarkable person - she won the first Tanner Cup at the young age of 15 years which is the benchmark if you have got what it takes. In 2002 Jo attended an overseas meet in Canada - the first time she had been overseas. This experience for Jo was the biggest opportunity to meet other sailors and this was the catalyst that jump started her sailing journey. She went onto win the youth and open categories. In the London campaign they sailed a one design boat – a 470 and had the best off the shelf equipment.  Jo said the boat sailed well however, a challenge to sail a new boat.
 
For the Rio Olympics the four year development phase focused on a deep understanding of how to sail boats and a profound increase in knowledge gained. Jo’s sailing partner was Polly Powrie and Manager Matt Handley. She as attended three Olympians; came 7th in China, won gold in London 2012 and silver in Rio 2016 against all the odds with a deficit of 21 points.  In London Jo and Polly sailed a good event but not great and questioned ‘is that it?’ They went into the Rio Games as defending champions and won four of the eleven races, more than any other crew. However, anything that could go wrong did….two disqualifications which killed of their gold medal chances and any hope for back to back golds.  On the final race on the   down ward leg Jo and Polly fought a hard tactical battle based on intuition, utter trust and experience. Jo cherishes the Rio Games because they had worked so hard for every piece of that medal and it is the proudest moment of their sailing carers to date. Currently Jo is having time out for the next 1-2 years and may consider the 2020 games. Jo has been sailing for twelve years and with Olympic campaigns there is no time off.  Jo is exploring of shore racing and is heading off to Hong Kong to explore possibilities of sailing in the Volvo yacht race which now allows females as crew.   So, watch this space…