The Jester Challenge
2010

by

Ewen Southby-Tailyour

The third Jester Challenge for single-handed yachts, under 30 feet, leaves 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 .            

In 1960 Blondie Hasler's 'amazing idea'was first sailed by five yachts, four of whom were under 26 feet: navigation was 'traditional', self-steering was 'experimental' and all crossed the Atlantic in good order. The only time that this has occurred. However, by 1968, he was worried that the race's success contained the seeds of its own death, with excessive competitiveness one of the reasons cited. Fearing a demise he planned a Series Two that, if necessary, would begin in 1980 with…no sponsor nor organising club…ordinary yachtsmen going about their (legal) business…making an independent passage on (their) own responsibility…no rules…no entrance fees…treating (the skippers) as adults who can…take their own risks….

Series Two never occurred, but recent events suggested that something similar was again due because the Royal Western Yacht Club's trans-Atlantic race was unmanageable: swamped by professional organisations. The Club wisely hived off this professional element to Offshore Challenges and reverted to running a Corinthian event yet continued to maintain the lower limit of 30 ft. This restriction had been introduced, partly for administrative reasons but primarily because of evolving international, stability requirements which, although not banning the smaller vessels, made compliance difficult. The result, intended or not, excluded seaworthy yachts from a race that had, at its very heart, the 25 foot Jester herself.

This nautical-nannying was a nonsense and surprised owners of, for example, Twisters, Folkboats, Contessa 26s and even the diminutive Corribbee 21s.  Experienced yachtsmen know that there is more to safety at sea than size and the righting-moment of a displacement hull: it is also a complicated matrix of human and physical factors. The arbiter of safety at sea is the sea itself, wrote Blondie, and it could be that a higher percentage of 'under 30 footers' will, once again, reach Newport in 2010 compared to a similar number of larger vessels in earlier single-handed races. The only class in OSTAR 05 with no retirements was the Eira class: the lowest IRC class with the smallest vessels.  

Additionally, Jester Challenge skippers are likely to own their own vessels and will have invested significant savings in them (for some they are also a home) ensuring that, unlike sponsored, almost-expendable, ocean racers these Jester Challenge yachts -  precious, personal possessions - will be cosseted and nurtured. With no public glory - nor sponsor - waiting at the finish, the highest standards of seamanship are most likely to be exercised: as they were in 2006 to Newport and in 2008 to the Azores.

The Jester Challenge fills a gap - satisfies a desire - and exists on the understanding that everyone has the right to sail across an ocean single-handed and 'in company' without submitting themselves to entrance fees (Corinthian money, better spent on the vessel) and rules, other than those governing common sense and good seamanship. There is no organising committee: no one has a duty of care to the competitors other than the skippers to themselves, their dependants and other seafarers. 

No skipper is likely to enlist on-shore navigational and meteorological help and there is no time limit.  Without inspections the Challengers will sail against each other on an individual basis and - in a parody of Blondie's views - we don't expect them to give a fig about level playing fields but we do expect them to 'behave like gentlemen' over numbers on board and the use of an engine.  They will be happy once again, I trust, simply to reach the other side safely, take their own finishing times and then compare rigs, routes, equipment, clothing  and diets.

In the early days some suggested we insist on oil lamps, towed logs and sextants but while The Jester Challenge is for small vessels, some of whom may well have been built in pre-GPS days, there is nothing Luddite about it. Satellite navigation will continue to predominate as will, un-surprisingly, wind-vanes and, with no regulations, Jester Challengers can carry - or not carry - what safety equipment they like, based on personal experience: we rely on the maturity of the skippers.

The Jester Challenge -a modern experiment in old-fashioned self-reliance, self-sufficiency  and personal responsibility - encourages oceanic passages in small boats sailed by independent-minded yachtsmen, still able to exercise their individual freedoms at sea. It replaces no existing race, remains complementary to the RWYC's OSTAR and is increasing in popularity so fast that even those sceptical ‘yachting press’ have had to take note - probably much against their wishes - that the Jester Challenge in its two guises (Newport and the Azores) is here to stay.

The few remaining begrudgers might note, too, that the Jester Challenge continues to fill a gap demanded by old-fashioned, proper seaman who are otherwise denied the opportunity to pit their wits against both the oceans and other like-minded seafarers.