Suzanne McFadden for LockerRoom
Zofia Wells started life in a pair of tiny black-and-white booties.
There’s a story in the New Zealand Herald archives about her arrival. Her parents – determined to watch the All Blacks face a formidable Wallabies side in the 2011 Rugby World Cup semifinal at Eden Park – were glued to a laptop in the delivery suite at Auckland Hospital.
The All Blacks victory was a welcome distraction between contractions. To celebrate, they slipped the little New Zealand boots onto their newborn’s feet.
Fourteen years on, Zofia Petra Wells is making sporting headlines of her own.
She’s just become the first female sailor to win the overall title at the national Optimist championships – the premier junior sailing class in New Zealand.
And she did so in dominant fashion – winning seven races and finishing 18 points clear of the next sailor in the 86-strong fleet, just over a week ago.
But Wells isn’t new to the sailing podium.
She’s already a world champion, pairing up with her friend Charlotte Handley to win the women’s title at the RS Feva worlds in Aix-les-Bains, France, last August.
In January, she became just the third female sailor to ever win the P-Class Tanner Cup – following in the wake of America’s Cup sailors, and Olympic medallists, Jo Aleh and Erica Dawson. It’s no surprise the prodigious young talent has her sights set on both of those pinnacle events one day.
But first there’s a few years of school to finish for the Saint Kentigern College Year 10 student, who also has ambitions of a parallel career in architecture.
Her first dream was to be a windsurfer like her parents, but her dad, James, insisted she learned how to sail an Optimist first.
“I think I’ll stick to sailing now,” she laughs. “I’ve always loved it – I have loads of friends in sailing and we can always talk and have fun together.”
She carried that approach into the Optimist nationals. Knowing after the first day she was in contention for the overall title, Wells tried not to overthink things and enjoy her sailing through the regatta.
“This is one of the first regattas where I focused on having fun instead of the competition, and it paid off,” she says
Wells won five of her six qualifying races, and two in the finals series, underlining her control across the regatta.
Having taken out the girls’ title at the past two nationals, she knew exactly what was required on the water. She also felt the conditions in New Plymouth played to her strengths.
“I have a good feel of how to make the boat go fast in light air. And it was quite wavy – and I’m better in waves than I am in flat water,” she says.
“I find it quite easy to catch waves because I’m constantly moving around in the boat. Then I boost forward a little bit in some waves.”
This was the perfect finish to Wells’ career in the Optimist.
She progressed through fibreglass boats named Todd, Fox, Shadowfax and most recently, the champion Zanzara, but it was time to move on.
“It’s been a fun boat to compete in,” she says. “I just prefer faster boats.”
Right now, that’s the 420 two-handed dinghy she sails with Handley. The pair hope to sail at this year’s world championships, also in France, after finishing top women at the nationals in Wellington last month.
Her partnership began when Wells, a shy 12-year-old, and Handley, a year older, both competed at the Optimist European championships in Italy in 2004.
Wells’ dad suggested they try sailing together when they returned home. They clicked immediately, both on and off the water.
The pair are close enough now to share in each other’s successes. Wells chose not to contest the Starling nationals this past weekend, instead lending her mast to Handley, who went on to win the female title.
“It was nice having a little break, too,” Wells says.
The girls are at schools on opposite sides of the Auckland Harbour Bridge – Handley is at Westlake Girls’ High on the North Shore – and meet about halfway, at the Royal Akarana Yacht Club, to train.
Now their dinghy seasons are done, they plan to sail their 420 every weekend and most weekdays after school.
Their future goal is to sail together at the Olympics in the 49erFX, and they should have no shortage of good advice.
Handley is the daughter of New Zealand Olympic 49er sailor Nathan Handley, who also coached Aleh and Polly Powrie to Olympic gold and silver medals.
Aleh, now on the Emirates Team New Zealand sailing crew, is showing the younger generation there is now a professional pathway for women through to the America’s Cup.
And Team NZ have added two more female sailors – Serena Woodall and Helena Sanderson – to their wider training squad.
Woodall, who grew up on Waiheke Island, and Sanderson, from the Bay of Islands, will learn to master the AC40 for next year’s Women’s America’s Cup while supporting the AC75 crew.
Jenny Armstrong, an Olympic gold medallist and Yachting NZ’s regional development and coaching manager, says it’s not only exciting to see the success of Wells and Handley, but the growing depth of female talent across the junior sailing classes.
“At the recent Starling nationals, seven girls finished inside the top 20, with Charlotte Handley the top female in third overall. Consistency like that doesn’t happen by chance,” Armstrong says.
“When young girls see sailors like themselves leading the fleet, it shifts what they believe is possible – and gives them the confidence to aim for the same.”
Yachting NZ has been creating more opportunities and support for women and girls, through initiatives like the Starling Girls Accelerator programme, introduced two years ago.
“Through this, we’ve worked closely with a group of talented sailors to help them not just compete with the boys but beat them at the national level,” Armstrong says.
Wells and her younger sister, Annika – also a promising sailor – grew up on the water. Their parents were competitive windsurfers – Kiwi James met German-born Julia competing at the youth world windsurfing championships in Greece in 2000.
They married four years later and moved to Auckland.
Three-time Olympic medallist boardsailor Barbara Kendall is one of Wells’ sailing heroes.
“She and my dad used to train together. I’ve hung out with her and talked to her a lot,” she says.
Wells has her eye on future sailing goals, but remains grounded in fun. At a celebration party at her local Glendowie Boat Club for her historic victory, she and fellow club members “talked, had fun and played games”.
She also plays football in her school development squad, but out-of-school hours are reserved for sailing.
The Wells family are still rugby fans.
“We go to rugby games sometimes together, and I think it’s cool to watch. But I’ve never really had any interest in playing it,” she says.
The tiny rugby booties have long since been replaced by a piece of pink Dyneema rope as Wells’ lucky charm. She carries one inside her life jacket and another in the 420.
“It’s just always there with me. I’ve got so used to having it now, I don’t want to get rid of it.”
This story was originally published at Newsroom.co.nz and is republished with permission.