Meet world's best match racing skippers | Nick Egnot-Johnson

Editor’s note:

The 2023 World Match Racing Tour (WMRT) Shenzhen•Bao'an Final and World Bay Area Regatta came to a close yesterday. Twelve of the world’s best match racing skippers from nine countries competed in the final. Between intense training and matches, the skippers gave us interviews, talking about their training, their goals and their observations during their visit to Shenzhen.

编者按：

2023世界帆船对抗巡回赛深圳•宝安总决赛暨世界湾区帆船赛于昨日落下帷幕。来自九个国家的12位世界顶级水平的帆船赛事船长和船队，在宝安区大铲湾、欢乐港湾等水域，展开了对全球总冠军荣誉、20万美元总决赛奖金的激烈竞争，给本地居民呈现了一场近距离、高竞技、强对抗，观赏性极强的顶级帆船比赛。在紧张的训练和比赛间隙，12位船长们接受了我们的采访，畅谈赛前训练，比赛目标以及他们在深圳的所见所闻。

Video by Liu Xudong

Nick Egnot-Johnson（尼克•埃格诺特•约翰逊）

World Sailing Ranking 世界帆联排名: NO.8

Leaderboard of World Match Racing Tour 世界帆船对抗巡回赛排名: NO.5

Nationality 国籍: New Zealand 新西兰

Team 队名: KNOTS RACING

Crew 队员: Sam Barnett, Bradley McLaughlin, Zak Merton

Nick Egnot-Johnson (born June 14, 1998), better known as EJ, was introduced to sailing at a young age, learning to sail off the back of the family cruising boat in an Optimist from the age of 7 years old. His American-born mother is the esteemed Leslie Egnot, who has long called New Zealand home, who was a pathfinder for women yachties when, after winning silver in the 470 class at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics, she became the first woman to helm an America’s Cup yacht as part of the all-women’s crew in San Diego in 1995. Nick represented New Zealand at Optimist regattas in Mexico, Portugal, Korea, New Caledonia, Canada, and Australia where he became the first Kiwi sailor to win the International Optimist Australian and Open Championships when he headed a 150-strong fleet.Nick is a three-time New Zealand Keelboat National Champion and his team was awarded the 2019 Performance Award by New Zealand Yachting. Nick is currently shortlisted as potential skipper of the New Zealand Youth America’s Cup team. The Knots Racing team from New Zealand is one of the most prominent up and coming match racing teams on the international circuit, currently in the top 15 of the World Sailing Match Race Rankings. In 2022, Nick and the KNOTS Racing reclaimed the World Match Racing Tour Championship.

尼克·埃格诺特·约翰逊（Nick Egnot-Johnson），人称 "EJ"。他很小就开始接触帆船运动，从 7 岁起就在家中的游船上学习驾驶 Optimist。他的母亲莱斯利-埃格诺特（Leslie Egnot）来自美国，目前在新西兰定居。她是一名享誉国际的帆船选手，也是女子帆船运动中的领头人。1992 年，她在巴塞罗那奥运会举行的 470 级的帆船比赛中摘得银牌，随后1995 年，她在圣迭戈举行的美洲杯帆船赛上率领一支全女子帆船队出战，成为第一位掌舵美洲杯帆船赛的女性。尼克子承母业，曾代表新西兰参加在墨西哥、葡萄牙、韩国、新喀里多尼亚、加拿大和澳大利亚举行的Optimist组别帆船赛，并在澳大利亚带领一支150人的强队夺得澳大利亚国际Optimist帆船赛（International Optimist Australian）和公开赛（Open Championships）冠军，成为第一位夺冠的新西兰水手。

尼克曾三次获得新西兰龙骨艇全国冠军，得到了新西兰帆船协会的认可，授予他和他的团队 2019 年度表现奖。尼克目前已入围新西兰青年参加美洲杯帆船赛队的候选船长名单。此次比赛，他率领的来自新西兰的 Knots Racing 队是国际赛场上最耀眼的新兴对抗赛队伍之一，目前在世界帆船对抗赛总排名中位列前 15。2022 年，尼克和他的船队夺得了世界帆船对抗赛巡回赛冠军。