Paris Olympic sailing hopeful Natasha Bryant joins SailGP with Tom Slingsby, Jason Waterhouse
This Sydney sailor is hoping to be an Australian pioneer of windfoiling windsurfing at the Paris Olympics. But first, she has much, much bigger fish to fry.
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She’s an engineering student campaigning to compete at the Paris Olympics for Australia in one of its newest and craziest events.
But first northern beaches sailor Natasha Bryant has another goal to chop away at - being the first Australian female to head up a SailGP crew.
The 21-year-old from Avalon is currently in Bermuda learning the tricks of the trade under Australian skipper Tom Slingsby, the Gosford sailor who recently orchestrated Australia’s US$1 million payday in the second season of SailGP.
Bryant, who won a world 29er crown as a 16-year-old, has been bought aboard as part of a women’s pathway to increase the number of women in the international sailing series raced in wing-sailed foiling catamarans.
“Ultimately I want to skip on my own boat,’’ Bryant told NewsLocal from Bermuda this week.
“I think it’s feasible, hopefully one day in the future.’’
There’s a strong northern beaches connection aboard the Australian team foiling F50 racing the opening event of the third season of SailGP in Bermuda this weekend.
Top crewmen and two time Australian Olympian Jason Waterhouse from Manly is a key figure in the successful Australian crew with London Olympic match-racer Nina Curtis from Newport, the first female bought not the boat from the pathway program.
“I had never met Tom (Slingsby) before the trials,’’ said former 49erFX sailor Bryant who has swapped to a foiling windsurfer for her Paris Olympic campaign of Slingsby, who recently signed on with the American Magic America’s Cup team.
“But Jase and Nina taught me how to sail when I was young.
“Nina in a Pacer and Jas taught me how to sail in a Manly Junior.’’
Sailing has gender equity at the Olympics but rarely in any other area of the sport, including SailGP.
The organisation said the pathway program is to increase the number of female sailors, with three joining the Australian team at various stages throughout the season for training and experience.
Outside her time with SailGP, Bryant will continue campaigning her iQFOiL which debuts at the Paris Games as sailing attempts to modernise and attract a younger generation of fans.
And while it’s purported to have an extraordinary top speed of around 27-30 knots in the women’s racing, it’s slow compared to Bryant’s new mode of transport.
“In San Francisco we reached 51 knots on a reach,’’ Bryant said of training time on the F50 earlier this month.
The Sydney sailor is part of the SailGP women's pathway program and joins Newport’s Nina Curtis as the second woman on the Australian crew headed by Tom Slingsby, who has just signed on with the US team for the next Americas Cup.
The 21-year-old He’s been put through her paces under Slingsby ahead of her first racing at the Bermuda SailGP in May.
Rejoining Slingsby for 2023 is Newcastle’s Kyle Langford, Manly’s Jason Waterhouse, Sam Newton from Hunters Hill, Kinsley Fowler from Perth, Ed Powys, a British sailor living at Mosman, and Curtis.
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Originally published as Paris Olympic sailing hopeful Natasha Bryant joins SailGP with Tom Slingsby, Jason Waterhouse
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