Sailing Magazine
L-R. Shaun Ferry; Shelly Polson; Edgar Bullen (sponsor); Janine & David Kruyt.
by Richard Crockett
It is almost 30 years ago that Shaun Ferry and Shelley Polson won the Hobie 16 Worlds in Guadeloupe, taking the crown from defending champions and team-mates David and Janine Kruyt.
SAILING Mag scribe Alex Petersen interviewed Ferry who competed in his first worlds in 1976 when he was just 12 years old.
What is interesting is that both Ferry and Kruyt had their girlfriends crewing for them, and in the interview Ferry indicated he would have it no other way. “Yes, very. My girl-friend, Shelley Polson crews with me, and of course Janine crews with David, and both did exceptionally well at the Worlds. They know their job on the boat. They know how to work the jib and the traveller on the swells. Its very much teamwork. At the level of the Worlds you have to have a crew who knows what they’re doing. In Guadeloupe people commented. On some reaches our crews were out, and on other boats there were some guys crewing who wouldn’t go out on the wire on a reach. It was blowing. Meanwhile our crews were out and were going for it. A lot of people came and said they couldn’t believe it. Somebody had made a video, and the girls were out on the wire just staring at the jib. The jib stayed perfect the whole way downwind.”
A wonderful testament to the ability of their crew.
READ THE FULL INTERVIEW HERE: Pages from 1993 03 – SAILING Magazine – OCR
