Meet Race Skipper Jim Prendergast

Jim Prendergast has spent the last decade working as a professional sailor, instructor and racer. The 40 year old was born in Sheffield and travelled extensively before settling in Gosport three years ago, where he has been working as a Clipper Race training skipper ever since and also spent time as a Direct Entry Watch Keeper for HM Coast Guard.

Jim’s extensive sailing experience ranges from teaching others how to sail in Portugal and the Caribbean, to racing in the Fastnet with a crew of disabled sailors, ten of whom are amputees. Jim says: “I have a calm, measured manner and I want to bring out the full potential in my crew. I understand the importance of a well-run, happy ship.

“A quick boat is one where people know their jobs and everyone is giving of themselves. I hope to mould a group of individuals into a competitive race crew and to lead them on a challenge of a lifetime.”

After studying Economics, History and Politics at the University of East Anglia, Jim embarked on a career in sales and marketing. Having raced across the Atlantic Ocean previously, he is most looking forward to the challenge of the Pacific Ocean in Leg 6 of the Clipper Race.

Jim says “One of my lifetime goals is to sail around the world so Sir Robin Knox-Johnston and Dame Ellen MacArthur are a real inspiration to me. Hopefully one day I will also get to spend a year cruising the eastern Mediterranean.”

Five things about Jim

My biggest strength is: being able to stay calm under pressure and work out the problem.

I have a weakness for: swan yachts.

My most memorable moment at sea is: finishing my first Atlantic crossing as skipper.

If I wasn’t a sailor I would be: a dolphin trainer.

The most important advice I’ll be giving my crew is: do it now, help the person next to you and when in doubt put the kettle on.