Series 3 - Ep19 - Jason Carrington Part 1

Send us Fan Mail

Shirley Robertson's Sailing Podcast this month features one of the most respected names in boat building, as Jason Carrington takes to the mic to discuss his phenomenal career in the sport.  Carrington has been at the forefront of high performance boat building for several decades, but as his chat with Robertson reveals, his achievements in the boat shed are more than matched by an impressive career offshore.

In this two part edition, Part 1 sees Carrington reveal how a childhood spent on the water in Lymington (UK) led to an apprenticeship at the groundbreaking Green Marine, under the tutelage of the pioneering Bill Green himself.  It wasn't long before Carrington was impressing as a bowman, and was soon setting off on his first Whitbread attempt on the 1993/94 "Fortuna" campaign with British Whitbread stalwart Lawrie Smith.  It was the first of four Whitbred / Volvo campaigns for Carrington, his second seeing him again take on the Round the World race with Smith onboard "Silk Cut"....:

"Sailing with Lawrie was wonderful, I remember my first glimpse of the Southern Ocean, I've never been with anyone that sailed so hard in the Southern Ocean...I was on the handles on deck....Lawrie was in the hatch and I looked and said 'this is crazy' and Lawrie just said "This is when you make the miles!.""

Carrington's tales of sailing the 93/94 and 97/98 Whitbread are told with a very obvious enthusiasm that hides nothing of his love for the camaraderie and hardships of round the world sailing.  As the Whitbread transitioned to the Volvo Ocean Race, it's Carrington's memories of building Volvo60 "Assa Abloy" that then begin to reveal a glimpse of the attention to detail he's since become famous for...:

"(Our sponsor) wanted the coach roof to be red and I caused such a fuss about 'why are we putting this paint on the boat, it's heavier, we don't need that paint' and I worked out per square metre what that was gonna weigh and I said 'No, we're not painting it red', I even phoned the sponsor...there was no compromise!"

From a lap of the planet on "Assa Abloy", tales from Carrington's sailing career then take in a Jules Verne attempt with Ellen MacArthur onboard catamaran "Kingfisher 2", as this epiosde wraps up.  In Part 2 of this month's pod, Carrington then discusses his final Volvo Ocean Race another onboard "Ericsson",  before the chat turns to life inside the boat shed, and the formation in 2017 of the now world renowned Carrington Boats.

Robertson's two part podcast with Jason Carrington is a fascinating glimpse into the career of a man that has played a pivotal role in the progression of the sport of sailing, and reveals a passionate character driven by a very obvious and deep rooted love of the sport of competitive yacht racing.

This edition of the podcast is in two parts and is available to listen to via the podcast page of Shirley’s own website, at www.shirleyrobertson.com/podcast or via most popular podcast outlets, including Apple Podcasts, Spotify

Support the show