Dear Jester,
Firstly, many thanks to all those who completed our insurance questionnaire. This yielded some interesting and useful results that we hope may help us in reversing what seems to be a deteriorating climate for singlehanded insurance. We will be following up on this in the coming months, once the 2022 Jester Challenge has been completed.
The 2022 Challenge starts on May 8th, with potentially five skippers and their boats crossing the starting line and heading west. The starters are a mix of old hands and new, and we are particularly pleased to welcome the Polish sailor Andrzej Kopytko to his first Jester event. At the other end of the spectrum John Apps will be sailing in his eighth Jester event overall, and his fourth full Challenge to Newport – a fantastic record. Details on all the starters are now up on the website, and photos of each skipper and his boat will be posted soon. As long as the technology cooperates, we will be tracking participants on a daily basis and posting regular updates, so please check in and follow their progress. As ever, a big thank you in advance to Norm Bailey and the Newport Yacht Club for their fantastic hospitality at the other end.
We sincerely hope that the Jester events are now back to their normal rhythm after three years of disruption. Luckily, we managed to get through the period without the total loss of a single event, although a certain amount of jilling about and close manoeuvring was required to manage that feat! The starters’ list for next year’s Jester Baltimore Challenge is already open and attracting names, so please feel free to register if you have thoughts of sailing to Ireland next year.
Sadly, we have heard that Jester stalwart and chronicler Denis Gorman is very ill in hospital in Las Palmas. There is not much that we can do about this on a practical level, but we are all hoping that he pulls through this difficult period with his usual unflinching determination.
With best wishes
The Jester Helm
Jester Challenge 