By JULIE ASH
Auckland teenager Jo Aleh is still coming to grips with her yachting success.
The 15-year-old Westlake Girls High student surprised herself this week when she became the first girl to win the Tanner Cup since the P-class regatta began in 1945.
She is already back on the water, competing in
the Tauranga Cup, which finishes in Wellington tomorrow.
The tournament, which started in 1940, will be much tougher to win because it is a national event contested over nine races and has a field of 89.
The Tanner Cup, donated by Wellingtonian George Tanner for inter-provincial competition, included six races for just 12 entrants.
In her first two races in the Tauranga Cup, Aleh finished third and fourth, but a win in the third yesterday lifted her to first place overall.
"It's a lot harder with 89 boats in the race,' she said.
"It has been very windy, which has made it hard."
But if she misses out on the top prize in the Tauranga Cup, there is always the national open Starling class championships, which start in Wellington next week. Aleh hopes to improve on last year's result where she finished 35th out of 100 or so competitors.
Aleh said winning the Tanner Cup was something she never expected.
Before the Tanner Cup, her best result was being the first girl home in the national Optimist and P-Class championships, something she has achieved the past two years running.
"I have been training a lot and working really hard," she said.
Aleh, from a family with no history in yachting, took up sailing four years ago.
"I was watching the America's Cup in 1995 and thought I'd like to try sailing, so I went down to the Ponsonby club and started there," she said.
"It is fun with the wind and the water, and I really like racing."
And with the Tanner Cup already in her possession, Aleh said she was aiming for higher honours in the sport.
"I hope to race in the Olympics in the Europe class," she said.
But at this stage she has no desire to compete in the round-the-world race or the America's Cup.
"I like the little boats. Those other ones are a bit too big," she said.
