It is perhaps true that “Anyone can build a Sharpie” but it still takes a great sailor to win a championship in one.
Last year, for the first time in history the Tasmania Lightweight Sharpie State Championship was won by a female helm, Kirsty Salter, crewed by her husband Julian and his Uncle Stephen. The Lightweight Sharpie is just under twenty feet long and has a crew of three, with one on the wire and sports a symmetrical spinnaker.
Kirsty’s achievement followed being top female helm at the Australian National Sharpie Championship in Western Australia and an earlier top female helm at the B14 Worlds.
These achievements led Kristy, mom of two, who also heads a digital design business, to be named ‘Tasmanian Female Sailor of the Year’.
