I knew who Jim was many years before I had the pleasure of meeting him. In his youth he had sailed 12ft cadet dinghies at Brighton a few years befrore me, and Simon Tedstone, my Sharpie and offshore sailing mate had been friends with Jim for many years.
During my double handed offshore racing period, Simon had asked me if I had ever met Jim, and had recounted some of the highlights of Jim’s sailing career.
It wasn’t until 2019 when I was navigating Our Rush, a DK46 in the Sydney Hobart that the skipper introduced me to Jim, and his friend Anders Lewander.
To me, it was being introduced to sailing royalty. I was a little intimidated, with so many famous races, Whitbreads, VORs, ACs etc behind them, I was unsure whether I could meet their expectations, whether or not they would get the information from me that they needed to make the boat perform.
I did know that I would learn a great deal, and it didn’t take long to work out that we would quickly bond as a high performing team.
Jim had been deeply involved in the sail plan development, and we worked together closely to build the sail charts, re-calibrate the polars and dial in the software. The depth of his knowledge, and his ability to get what he wanted from people using his humour and sharp wit was impressive.
One highlight was day 2 of the race in a 25-30kt noreaster in a sloppy sea with Jim at the wheel.
A gust overpowered the boat and we broached before the sheets could be eased. WIth the boat on it’s ear, people struggling to hang on and get the mess sorted, I would have expected his frustration to become evident, shouting orders or blowing up.
Instead, as I was looking forward, I heard the noise of a truck reversing beeper coming from behind me.
As I turned to see what the noise was, I looked at Jim who was as calm as could be, shrugging his shoulders and making the beeping noise with a grin on his face and a look of resignation, as if to say ‘no trouble, we’re going backwards up the race course, with the rudder out of the water. All good.’ Unflappable.
Jim and I became mates, and have done a number of races together in the years since, on maxi’s and mutli’s, both in Australia and overseas.
The 2021 Groupama New Caledonia race was another highlight, with a crushing race win, with the longest distance ever sailed to win by around 12 hours.
Every race with Jim has had the same themes. His professional approach, his expert seamanship, technical brilliance as well as bringing people together, wonderful stories, a million laughs and a sore head the morning after.
A pleasure to have shared so many great experiences with him, both on and of the water. Truly one of a kind.
Andrew and I, apart from being great mates, have done many races together, he is a great navigator and is highly skilled at interpreting and communicating weather data; skills attained from many racing miles merged with his fixed wing and helicopter airforce back .
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