Yacht Master - sharon ferris-choat

Sharon was a teenager heading for trouble when she discovered sailing. Starting in the Bay of Islands, New Zealand, Sharon watched Maiden race around the world with an incredible international team of women. They inspired her with the determination and belief that if they could do it, then maybe with a lot of hard work and determination, so could she. Every opportunity to sail was taken. Sharon discovered her passion, the need for camaraderie, the endless adventure seeking and new challenges to overcome. 

Positive regatta results built her confidence. When Sharon’s Maths teacher saw her passion for sailing, she turned Sharon’s maths problems into boats. Sharon went from the bottom of the class to the top within 6 months and has learned to love maths, having a great recall for numbers and settings.

She wanted to race around the world but the opportunity to compete in the Europe Class at the Olympic Games came first as the age of 22. At the 1996 Atlanta games, she finished 5th and competed again in Athens in 2004, placing 7th in the Yngling yacht. She has raced around the world 3 times, logging more than 107,000 offshore miles. The first was as part of Tracy Edwards’ first all-female crew, to attempt the Jules Verne non-stop round the world record. She then joined the crew of Amer Sports Too, in the Volvo Ocean Race in 2001/02.

In 2005 Sharon was part of the wining team of the Oryx Quest (Nonstop around the world in 62 days). Sharon became the 1st women (alongside Karine Fauconnier) to win a Round the World Yacht Race. Alongside Tracy Edwards on Royal & Sun Alliance Maiden II, Sharon was part of the World Record team that broke and set several World Sailing Speed Records. Four months later Sharon and her crew went on to win the silver medal at the Yngling World Championships, putting them on top of the Yngling class world ranking.

Sharon was then appointed skipper of Thalassa Magenta Racing, as the 1st skipper ever of the all-female team in the Extreme Sailing Series 2016 racing the GC32's and also winning the Lisbon Sea Sustainable Award. On the GC32 Racing Tour she was the only female racing as a sailor, in a Skipper/Team Manager role of Armin Strom Racing Team they placed 2nd in Palma and , finished 3rd overall on the GC32 Racing Tour.

2018 She skippered Ave Gitana, a Crowther 45-foot Tri (Solar powered for battery, electronics and engine) with a female crew. Sharon and her team won Hamilton Islands Race Week Multihull Islands Racing Division and took home the Gun Boat Trophy by winning the most races over the line throughout all divisions. She also finished 2nd in the Groupama Race (Round New Caledonia), Brisbane to Keppel Race and Magnetic Islands Race Week.

2019 saw Sharon appointed Co-Skipper of Maiden on The Maiden Factor World Tour and again in 2022, she Skippered Maiden from Palma, Spain to Miami, Florida and from Newport, Rhode Island to Dakar in Senegal. Sharon’s objective was to mentor and train the crew and mile builders so they could enter Maiden into the ORC Race with a youth crew.

Sharon has been a mentor and coach for more than 30 years. Her goal is to encourage and inspire people from all over the world to experience sailing at any level they aspire to.

Sharon holds RYA Yachtmaster Offshore and Yachtmaster Ocean qualifications and joins Ocean Sailing Expeditions in a leadership and skippers role to continue her passion for the ocean.

Sharon’s sailing career highlights

1st Women in the World to win a round the World race

• 1st Oryx Quest (Doha 2006 Maxi Cat) Non-Stop around the World, Saturday April 9, 08h 01' Gmt. After a circumnavigation of 62d 21h 01' 22" covering 23020 nautical miles setting out from and returning to Doha (Qatar) via the Horn and the Cape of Good Hope, the maxi catamaran Doha 2006 won the first edition of the Oryx Quest.

World Speed Records

• 24-hour Speed record 2,530nm – World Speed Record

• Cowes to St Milo 183nm – World Speed Record

• Round Britain and Ireland 2,453nm – World Speed Record

• Trans Atlantic – Route of Discovery 2,654nm

• Antigua to Newport 1,823nm – World Speed Record

World Championships

• 8th Women’s World Match Racing Championships (1999)

• 2nd Yngling World Championships

• 6th Yngling Worlds (2007)

Match Racing

• 1st Brazil Women’s Cup (2007)

• 2nd Portugal Match Cup (2007)

• 3rd North American Women’s Match Race (2007)

Extreme Sailing Series

• Skipper of 1st all female Extreme Sailing Series Team (2016)

Volvo ocean race

•  Amer Sports Too in Volvo Ocean Race 12,342nm (2001 / 2002)

Offshore racing

• 2nd Line and Handicap Groupama Race (2018)

Olympic campaigns

• Represented New Zealand at the 1996 & 2004 Olympics

• 5th Europe Class at Atlanta Olympic Games (1996)

• 3rd Open Yngling World Championships (2003)

• 2nd Spanish Yngling National Championships (2003)

• 1st Miami Olympic Yngling Class Regatta (2004)

• 7th Yngling Class Athens Olympic Games (2004)

New Zealand Titles

• 1st NZ Dragon Class Nationals (2001)

• 1st NZ 470 Olympic Sail class (2001)

• 1st NZ National Keelboat Championships (2000)

• 2nd NZ National Keelboat Championships (1999)

• 1st NZ Women’s Match Race Championships (2001)

• Winner Coastal Classic (Zana 99-foot monohull) 125 Nautical Miles – NZ National Record