After watching the 1995 Americas Cup on TV, Jo decided that she wanted to sail, so after completing learn to sail courses at Ponsonby Cruising Club, she moved to Kohimarama Yacht Club where she started sailing the Optimist. Jo was the top NZ female in the Optimist for two years running before moving into a P-Class, where she competed in 3 National Championships culminating in a successful last year in 2002, winning the Tanner Cup and placing 3rd in the Tauranga Cup.

In 2004 Jo competed in the Laser Radial Worlds, held in Brisbane, Australia and then went on to once again win the Youth Trials and compete in the ISAF Youth Worlds in Poland, where she placed 2nd.

Since moving out of the Youth Classes, Jo competed in the Laser Radial achieving a 9th place at the 2005 European Championships and placing 2nd at the NZ Nationals in her two years there.

During the European off season in 2006/7 Jo had a go at sailing a 420 with crew Olivia Powrie, and won the 2007 420 Womens World Championship held at Takapuna Beach, in NZ. After a successfull 2007 year in Europe with three top 3 results in major regattas, and an 8th place at the world championships, Jo was named in the NZ Olympic team for 2008, where she sailed a regatta of two half's, managing to lead going into the half way stages of the regatta, only to struggle in the second half, to end the regatta in 7th overall.