Jonathan Ross Sailing Profile

I've spent my life either on or near the sea. I don't think it is in me to be able to live inland. A sailor since the age of 12, I grew up learning to sail small dinghies on Port Philip Bay in Australia. My local yacht club was 100m from our house and my teenage years were sailing, sailing and more sailing.

My passion has always been racing dinghies in the likes of 505s, Tasars, Lasers with stints on 49ers and even a foiling Moth. I've sailed SB20 sports boats and raced in multiple regional, national and world championships over 3 decades. Sailing has been very kind to me and I've competed in Worlds in places as diverse as Hamilton Island to Sicily, from Darwin to San Francisco. There was even a Tasar Worlds in Phuket.

In terms of yacht sailing, I've done many coastal and blue water miles and I am no stranger to solo watches at 03:00. I've been fortunate to have sailed in the most of the world's major oceans and seas. A highlight perhaps was sailing across the Caribbean, east to west and then going through the Panama Canal.  It's definitely one for every sailor's bucket list. A very different ocean sailing experience was a voyage in the Pacific from Cairns to Melbourne helping my brother in law bring his new boat home (4 weeks and approx 2500nm). Lots of head winds and lots of motoring!

So I think you can see my sailing background have been quite varied with a whole range of situations and experiences. But no matter how much sailing you or I have done, there's still much to learn from every time we head out of the marina. No two days are ever the same.

Most recently, most of my sailing has been based around the Mediterranean as I have been living in France. Some recent trips since 2014 include

• Palma de Mallorca to Gibraltar to Barcelona (captain - Palmer Johnson 84)
• Monaco to Corsica / Sardinia (captain - MY Uniesse 55 &  Bali 4.0)
• Les Sables d'Olone to A Coruña, Spain (assisted passage - Catana 62)
• Epidavros to Marmari, Greece (skipper - Bavaria 56)
• Gibraltar to Valencia, Spain (skipper - Hallberg Rassy 42)
• Messolonghi in Greece to Porto, Portugal (watch leader - Oceanstar 52)
• Sicily to Palma (crew - Lagoon 56)
• Corfu to Palma (watch leader - Oyster 53)
• Skiathos to Athens (skipper Beneteau 343)
• Athens to Kos (sailing tuition - Lagoon 380)
• Lanzarote in the Canary Islands to Valencia, Spain (skipper - Jeanneau 54)
• World ARC in 2015 beginning in St Lucia and sailed to Panama City, transiting the Panama Canal. (watch leader - Lagoon 450)
• I've also done a number of trips and races through Bass Strait and numerous Melbourne to Sydney passages through Bass Strait

So my sailing background is a good mix of seat of the pants sailing learnt through racing dinghies to sailing offshore across oceans all over the world. RYA Yachtmaster Offshore qualified with commercial endorsement.