Biography

Where from: Southampton

Nautical Miles sailed: 65,000nm

With a naval dad, there was no avoiding boats for a young James and in his own words he started out “as an unhappy passenger being used for ballast.” He started to learn to sail on his own from the age of ten and went on to be a dinghy instructor. After completing his Professional Yachtmaster Ocean qualification, he completed two seasons in Greece, out of Vounaki. James has also spent time working out in the British Virgin Islands as a Charter Skipper and Instructor.

James has already circumnavigated the globe as an AQP on board Zhuhai on the 2019-20 edition of the race James also Skippered for the Knox-Johnson cup in 2022 where his team placed second, and has been a Clipper Race Training mate so is no stranger to competitive sailing the Clipper Race way.

James feels that his experience will help him to lead a happy cohesive team. As a skipper, James wants to create a team that is happy and completely involved in every aspect of the race, from sailing to maintenance, he believes the team should come away feeling they have played an important role in getting the boat to its destination.