Spinnaker Tales- Australian women's 470 crews

by Ian Grant on 30 Aug 2001 Only a few years ago little Lisa Charlson watched her older sisters Fiona and Andrea become the first all girl crew to win the Australian Junior Sabot championship in Hobart.

At the time the cub member of the Mooloolaba Yacht Club was a little young to understand what the senior Charlson sailing sisters had achieved but there is no doubt that the important experience of being included in the sailing 'kindergarten' has played a big role in her career.

Sure she enjoyed the usual water fights but most of all the very determined Lisa Charlson took pride out of her success in racing against her male rivals.

Unlike her sisters Lisa has no National Sabot class Gold Medal on display in the family trophy cabinet.

However she has a Queensland title Gold Medal when the Brisbane Girls Grammar squad became the first female sailing team to win the Queensland Yachting Association secondary schools team racing championship.

That victory gave her a deserved taste of success and the launch pad to a brilliant career first winning the Australian Open Womens 420 gold medal with Sarah Roberts-Thomson then outpacing the best in the World to win the Volvo Youth Worlds in South Africa.

Lisa noticeably attracted the attention of Australia's Olympic medal making coach Victor Kovalenko and is presently making the most of the opportunity to be inspired by the master's wisdom.

Kovalenko has cleverly linked the Sunshine Coast skipper who recently celebrated her 21st birthday at an Olympic classes meet in Ireland with the equally talented and determined West Australian Lisa Rooke.

As expected Team Lisa have not disappointed the master coach after they finished 10th in an Olympic 470 dinghy regatta in Europe.

Their result included two race victories over Australian teammates the Sydney Olympic Gold Medallists Jenny Armstrong and Belinda Stowell.

Coach Kovalenko was naturally impressed with the 'second string' sailing team who are touring on a shoestring budget as they build on their international ranking.

The success in Europe has proved Team Lisa are on target to make the Gold Medallists fight hard to retain the opportunity to defend their title in Athens in 2004.

This was also a special reward for John and Lori Charlson who have made financial sacrifices to ensure their youngest daughter remains in the chase to realise her career ambition to sail for Australia at the Olympics.

'Lisa was excited when she phoned home this week and is looking forward to coming home for a rest and a belated 21st celebration with the family in September'. A proud mum Lori Charlson said on Wednesday.

Team Lisa is a very exciting young sailing team and represents a determination that will achieve their Olympic dream wether it be in Greece in 2004 or China in 2008.

They are determined to sail out of the wind shadow of the admired Olympic champions Armstrong and Stowell and sail for Australia.

This is not an impossible dream and they have the advantage of youth on their side, which could be a very important issue when the Australian Olympic sailing team is selected a little over three years from now.