Sail GP: Jo Aleh determined to prove her worth to Sail GP team

Olympic champion Jo Aleh will bolster the New Zealand Sail GP team in this weekend's third round of the foiling catamaran series in Plymouth.

One of New Zealand's most decorated female sailors is following in the footsteps of female sailors Liv MacKay and Erica Dawson who have become established in the Peter Burling and Blair Tuke led team.

For Aleh, who won Olympic gold with Polly Powrie in the women's 470s in London in 2012 and silver four years later in Rio, Sail GP is a challenge she simply couldn't refuse and is determined to prove herself in what is still a largely male-dominated environment.

Sail GP has a women's pathway programme introduced at the start of last season aimed at promoting inclusion, inspiring change and providing opportunities across all levels of the sport.

"I think the first step is just that they're opening the doors just trying to crack open, it's cracking open a touch, and it's not much yet. But it's hopefully a way in, and hopefully, you know, you look back in 5-10 years, and the game has changed. I don't think it's going to happen quickly.

"And I mean, even the America's Cup, they've announced that there's a women's America's Cup Regatta, which at least I think the final is on one of the days of the America's Cup, so it will mean something.

"But it's definitely early on in the process, we're not going to see the real changes, for the next few years. But hopefully, this is setting up a pathway and a platform that in five years, you'll see girls on the boats owning their positions and being just as capable as the guys or better because you still have to own the position, you don't want to be there Just because you're a chick," Aleh told the Herald.

The 36-year-old has spent much of the past five since coaching but is returning to top -level sailing with Molly Meech to mount an Olympic campaign in the 49er FX which will be her number one priority through until the 2024 Paris Olympics.

But she believes her involvement in Sail GP can only benefit her decision-making on the 49er.

"Sail GP just because it's so fast paced, I think is an awesome opportunity to work on what's coming next, and what scenarios are going to present themselves. And I know for me my own Olympic sailing right now, it's something I'm trying to work on. So, there's some really awesome parallels. And I think if, you know if I'm sailing along at 45 knots, I can still keep calm and clear enough to understand what's happening now, what's going happen next and how you communicate that."

"The Olympics is definitely the main goal at the moment. It's what I do day to day, it's my job, it's my passion. Sail GP has the opportunity to top it up. Obviously, it's not a full-time thing and there's a few of us girls within the team. So, it's definitely all shared around but is just a really good addition to what I'm already doing. So hopefully, I can work and continue working for the next few years."

Having been coaching the past few years Aleh is passionate about seeing more opportunities created for the country's female sailors and she believes the New Zealand Sail GP team's inclusion of some of the best female sailing talent the country will help inspire others.

"It's really exciting. It's a step into something different which is a great step forward. I have done a lot of Olympic sailing and other sailing but this is my first go stepping into something like this, and something that just hasn't existed for very long, but it's really taken off. And it's been awesome to see them with some of those initiatives bringing girls in and giving us some different opportunities that we might not have had before."

"It's been pretty noticeable the last few years, just how much the potential pathways have changed and the fact there are opportunities to extend your experience and to learn a completely different craft and work within these bigger teams, that just wasn't there before. There was no way into anything like this until sort of the last two years. So, I think it's hugely important.

"I've always said the issue for women and sailing is, it's not a skill factor, it's a lack of experience and until you get those opportunities, you're just never going to get the experience to be good enough. So, I think it's massive in terms of fast-tracking girls coming through and being involved in a team and just having the chance to learn off a lot of these guys who are at the top of their game, it's pretty amazing."

Baptism of fire

The challenge this weekend is arguably the most difficult of her career. Under Sail GP rules, teams only get use of their boats for a couple of days before racing so for Aleh it will be a baptism of fire.

"It's definitely a jump in the deep end, from never having been on one of the boats to in two days-time racing. So, I mean, luckily, I love a good learning curve and the bigger the challenge, the more fun it is. Hopefully I'll take it up really quick. Just baby steps, I've got a few things to learn a few things to own and we'll see how we go.

The New Zealand team sits in fourth place overall out of nine competing teams after the first two rounds. But it's the Kiwis' failure to yet make the final race for the top three teams in each regatta which irks them, and there's a determination to finally crack the podium race in Plymouth.

Aleh realises she's not turning up to have fun.

"It's what I love about the sport, but I don't do it to sit to hang out and have a good time. I enjoy what I do, but you want to do well and I think that's the fun part about being involved with the team at this stage, as we all know there's a lot of potential there. But they haven't quite cracked it as yet.

"It's been great in the last week or two just being involved in some of the debriefing and some other sort of areas of working on to see you know, how they're doing it and hopefully I can be a value and add something because obviously I come from a different type of sailing, and I've had a different career than those boys. But hopefully, I've got something useful to add."