[1][2] Shearer and Egnot finished second in the 1989 470 Class World Championships in Japan, she was part of the New Zealand crew that won the 1990 World Women's Match Racing Championships in New York; Jan Shearer and Fiona Galloway competed for New Zealand at the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul in the 470W Class, this was the first time ever that women had their own event in sailing at the Olympic Games.

Shearer and Galloway also won the centennial (100 year anniversary) of 'Kiel Week' Germany in the 470W Class, in one of the largest fleets ever in women's dinghy sailing.

Shearer and Egnot after winning the Silver Medal in 1992, competed again at 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta finishing 16th.

She later married fellow international yachtsman Murray Jones, a six-time America's Cup-winning sailor and designer, and five-time New Zealand Olympian.

Born in Dunedin in 1958,[1][4] Shearer was educated at Otago Girls' High School[5] and is a life member of Yachting NZ and Takapuna Boating Club.