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single-handed sailing - only in solitude can true freedom be known

Mike Richey

It is with great sadness we must announce that Mike Richey died on 22nd December 2009, aged 92. He will be greatly missed by all who knew him, as well as the many others inspired by his outstanding achievements in the art of single-handed sailing and astro-navigation, most notably his exploits in Jester.
Mike Richey's life
Mike Richey: Expert on astro-navigation
Listen well to this part-monk, part-maverick

Mike
Mike and Jester
 
And he woke up and rebuked the wind and said to the sea: 'Quiet now. Be calm.' And the wind dropped, and there followed a great calm.
This passage from the gospel of Mark (I use the Jerusalem Bible) brings to mind a curious incident in Faial when I first sailed Jester to the Azores.........read more
 

The 2010 Jester Challenge - 9 Skippers now arrived at Newport..see entry list

The third Jester Challenge for single-handed yachts, under 30 feet, left Plymouth at 1300 BST on 23rd May 2010 with this one bound,  for the second time, for Newport RI. No other single-handed, trans-Atlantic race is planned for this 50th anniversary year...... read more

24 Entries for The Jester Challenge 2010  

Jester Challenge 2010 entry list

"Camaraderie, fun and a lack of formality are the guiding principles: in effect these Jester Challenges are organised by those competing in them"

 
"It is vain to do with more what can be done with less" William of Occam 1285-1349
 
The 2010 Jester Challenge Dinner held in London on 11th January
Skippers 2010
John and Roger Paul Allan and Paul
Ewen and John Denis
Kai and Simon Roger and Am,anda
Roger and Brenda Tony and Marsha
 
Bill Churchouse Cafe Sport
Bill Churchouse Cafe Sport
After leaving Praia da Vitoria, Bill Churchouse sailed on to Horta where he enjoyed a cold beer at Peter's Cafe Sport and is seen here exchanging a Jester Challenge burgee with José Azevedo
 

Jester Azores Challenge 2008 a huge success!
42 Starters and 28 finishers read more

JAC08 Bill Churchouse Arrives
The inimitable Bill Churchouse and his 40-year-old 22' Westerly, Belgean, arrive in Praia da Vitoria after 21 days at sea
 copyright © Tony Head 2008 
 
First Arrivals
Some of the first 2008 Jester Azores Challenge skippers to arrive in Praia da Vitoria
copyright © Duncan Lougee 2008
 
Alexei at Newport
Alexei and Fason arrive in Newport RI under jury-rig

George Pike reports that Alexei Fedoruk arrived at the Newport Yacht Club in his boat Fason on Tuesday 5th August under jury-rig. He had first been spotted by local fishermen last week when they passed him food and water.  more...
Alexei was a competitor in the 2008 Jester Azores Challenge and finished 12th at 11:07 on 14th June.
Fason was designed and build by Alexei in his home town of Velikiy Novgorod in 1988, at a time when materials were virtually impossible to source. He machined all the screws himself!
Alexei had sailed Fason 1,800 miles from St Petersburg for the start of the Jester Azores Challenge.
The likeable Russian was very popular with the JC skippers who presented him with a silver Crown to recognise his outstanding achievement of sailing the first truly home built yacht in the event.

Alexei and the jury-rigged Fason are are shown here on a mooring in Newport Harbour proudly flying her Jester Challenge flag. The picture below shows Alexei (centre) enjoying a drink with George Pike, from the Newport Yacht Club, and Dr. Robin Wallace, Chairman of the R. I. State Yachting Committee, at the Ida Lewis Yacht Club.
Alexei is being taken good care of by our Jester Challenge friends in Newport and they have already found a new mast for Fason....thank you Newport.   Full story

 

Mingming's 2009 Northern Voyage

Left Whitehills Harbour on the Moray Firth, northern Scotland, at high water, 0200H on Friday 26th June. Ran up through the Fair Isle Channel, past Fair Isle, then outside Foula, the westernmost Shetland island. With settled weather from the east, though with occasional calms, I was able to lay down an almost straight track to Jan Mayen, which we reached 121/2 days later, on Wednesday 8th July. The highlights of the leg to Jan Mayen were two encounters with pods of killer whales, and a close shave with a Russian factory trawler, the Armanek Begayev, of Kaliningrad, which we met just inside the Arctic Circle. We had crossed the Arctic Circle......more

Amongst the bergs and bergy bits, 80 miles ENE of Scoresby Sound on the East Greenland coast
Amongst the bergs and bergy bits, 80 miles ENE of Scoresby Sound on the East Greenland coast
 
Joe Kane
Returning from Praia da Vitoria, Jester had an amazing chance encounter with Joe Kane and Periwinkle 280 miles south-west of the Lizard. Joe was on the Jester Azores Challenge 2008 entry list but ran out of time when preparing Periwinkle for the event and is seen here on his way to Las Palmas. He arrived there in his junk-rigged 26ft Macwester on 26th July, taking just 16 days 3 hours from Southern Ireland!
 

John Apps and Glayva finish the Jester Challenge 2006

After 410 days, 2 hours and 50 minutes - and in true 'Jester Spirit' - John Apps has finished the Jester Challenge 2006.
He arrived in Newport RI on 18th July 2007, being the third skipper to finish.
John wrote:
"Well we made it. I passed the Castle Hill Light at 1350[UTC] on 18 July 2007. Approximately 410 days, 2 hours and 50 minutes since the start of JC06. I think this might make me third on the podium.
Except for the last 200 miles when I had next to no wind I seemed to go from Low to Low with only a day in between. Even in sectors which according to the Routing Chart should never have anything above F7, I was encountering F9s. I was knocked down twice in a three hour period trying to sail under bare poles in an F10 NE, when I had crossed the top of a low. The first knock down was a bit of a disaster as I had just taken my top stormboard out to check on everything, when I was knocked down - ending up with about 2 feet of water in the cabin. I also lost my wind indicator from the top of my mast, broke my Babystay, flattened my Spray Hood and ended up with a Raincatcher Radar Reflector looking like a flower as it was bent out of shape.
Except for the missing wind indicator everything was more or less repairable. About 100 miles out of Newport I encountered very dense sea fog and unfortunatley no wind for a day and a half. I was caught in something called teh Great South Ship's Channel just south of Nantucket. Every hour or so I could hear a ship's fog horn going past. I was replying on my foghorn, but it sounded very puny in relation to the ships' blasts. Still I think my two radar reflectors are fairly effective [A Dutch ship, the NV Power, passed me one evening and told me they had had me on radar for an hour].
Because of the time it has taken me to get here, I will probably only stay a few days to resupply and head straight back"

John Apps Newport
John Apps (centre) enjoying a well earned beer with Robin Wallace and George Pike at the Newport Yacht Club

 
"In 1964 Tabarly won the second OSTAR. Blondie Hasler, who had sailed the race in Jester, wrote in his journal on 30 June "Eric has won in the superlative time of 27 days. I am delighted first of all because he is French..."
May I, albeit now from a non-combattant status, express exactly the same feelings to yet another Eric on yet another splendid performance.     
Mike Richey (ex-Jester)

Pete Hill and Eric Andlauer - the two skippers to finish The Jester Challenge 2006 - shown with George Pike at the Newport Yacht Club after receiving the Newport Medal of Honour

Eric Andlauer's Jester Challenge
Pete Hill's Jester Challenge
John Apps's Jester Challenge
Roger Taylor's Jester Challenge

Newport Medal of Honour
 

Shanti Arriving in Newport         Pete Hill and Shanti arriving at Newport after 44 days and 6 hours at sea

Pete and Eric Sharing a Beer        Pete Hill and Eric Andlauer sharing a beer after their successful crossing

The Jester Challenge 2006 Results and News

How to Scull


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