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Twelve months ago, Nick Egnot-Johnson took part in his first match racing regatta and got "destroyed". Last weekend, the 20-year-old and his crew won the US match racing grand slam and received an invitation to compete in next year's Congressional Cup.
That is rapid progression by anyone's estimation and, at 31, Egnot-Johnson and his crew are now the world's top-ranked team still in their first year of competing and second Kiwi behind world No 1 Phil Robertson.
Egnot-Johnson teamed up with former 470 sailors Sam Barnett and Zak Merton for all four events on the grand slam and they also added bowman Bradley McLaughlin and coach Graeme Sutherland for the final two regattas. They started poorly at the first in Chicago, when they raced in the unfamiliar Sonar class, but were third in Detroit, first at the Oakcliff Invitational in New York and second last weekend in the Thompson Cup, also in New York.
"Taking out the grand slam has really boosted our world ranking," Egnot-Johnson said. "But the main thing was getting entry into the Congressional Cup in April. That's a huge event for us. It's the second biggest match racing regatta in the world behind the America's Cup.
"We're going to have to do a lot of work before the Congressional Cup. The level will be really high there, so lots of boat-on-boat training with the likes of James Wilson and Leonard Takahashi is going to be the best way to prepare."
Egnot-Johnson, Barnett and Merton will get that through their involvement in the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron's performance programme, which opened their eyes to the possibilities in keelboat racing. All three came from backgrounds in dinghy sailing, and had Olympic ambitions, but recognised a different pathway to their goal of being professional sailors.
"We all have pretty similar goals and want to sail as a career," Egnot-Johnson said. "We're all looking to be part of an America's Cup team and do the Volvo Ocean Race.
"Match racing is suiting me better at the moment. We sail in a wide variety of different boats rather than just one because each regatta can be in a different boat. We're also doing quite a lot in the Nacra 20."
The trio are trying to work out their plans for the next 12 months on top of the Congressional Cup, and are keen to compete in January's Warren Jones Regatta in Perth and July's Governor's Cup in California, but their immediate attention will be on the match racing national championships in Auckland from October 3-7.
As many as 17 teams will compete, including teams helmed by the likes of Chris Steele, Takahashi, Wilson, Laurie Jury, Celia Willison and American Frankie Dair.
It was the event Egnot-Johsnon first dipped his toes into match racing last year - "we got destroyed," he said - but a lot has changed in the past 12 months.
"There are some big names in there, but I rate our chances," Egnot-Johnson said. "We have done a lot of match racing together now and we work really well together as a three.
"We all come from fleet racing backgrounds so look to sail really cleanly and rely on our speed and picking the shifts."
It's a philosophy that's served them well so far and the next 12 months will give them a good indication of how much further than can go.
