Back around 2009 former Sailnet Moderator CruisingDad introduced this thread so that everyone knew who the moderators are. It has gotten updated from time to time but here is who we currently are......
Who am I? Well, I am an architect (buildings) with my own practice in Annapolis, Maryland (Halpern Architects). I have a masters degree in Architectural Structures which is an architectural degree that is more heavily engineering biased than the average garden variety architectural degree.
A maintenance Day on 'Synergy'
I have some informal training as a yacht designer and have designed and built a few boats, and worked for naval architects and yacht designers at different times in my life, Below was a schooner that I designed back in the 1970's.
BUT I do not consider myself a professional yacht designer. I have also worked in boat yards and as a consultant to boatyard owners, designing repairs and alterations to yachts. My mother had two companies that built and imported boats from Taiwan, which gave me a lot of insights into the boat building industry.
I first started sailing in 1961 and more or less have sailed ever since. In 1963 or 1964, a family friend went sailing with my dad and I and wanted to take a picture of our boat under sail. The picture below is one of his that was taken that day, with my Dad steering and me trimming the genoa.
Windrift 1963-64
When we put our friend on the fuel barge to take the pictures, my dad let me bring the boat into the dock for the very first time. Our friend snapped this picture of me during that maneuver looking at the closing gap between the boat and the dock. I was probably somewhere between 12 and 14.
Jeff Sailing as a 12 -14 year old
I enjoy most types of sailing. I currently sail on the Chesapeake Bay but have sailed on much of the U.S. Atlantic coast. In a given year, I typically will daysail, race (both my own boat and other people's boats), and cruise (both my own boat and other people's boats) and can be out on the water as many as 100 days a year. I do a lot of single-handing. While I have cruised offshore, I strongly prefer coastal cruising. While I have raced dinghies and very high performance boats, I prefer racing 22 to 40 foot keelboats. I have owned wooden boats and enjoy sailing on traditional watercraft. I have a pretty strong background in yacht and working water craft history and have owned a few wooden boats.
Indian- Sarasota 1975
Indian- John Holmes Boat Yard- Nokomis 1976
Diana- end of restoration- Dinner Key- 1973
These days I prefer to own modern performance cruisers.
'Synergy' Hardening up onto a close reach.
In a general sense, I have a preferences for boats that perform well, and that offer excellent sailing capabilities (performance, ease of handling, comfort, and seaworthiness) across a wide range of conditions. I pick a boat based on how she sails with all the rest being negotiable. I really am not a fan of 'heavy weight offshore boats'. (Duh!)
I currently own a Farr 38 (Farr 11.6) which I daysail, race and cruise single-hand. The Farr 11.6's are hard to classify boats and not exactly your normal off-the-rack cruising boat or racing boat. They were built as fast offshore cruisers but have had a very successful racing record. They also have a remarkable record as short-handed offshore cruisers. My boat was single-handed into the States from Cape Town, South Africa.
Synergy beating out of Maryland Yacht Club after a SailNet rendezvous.
I have owned over a dozen boats with family members owning over a dozen more. I race on a variety of boats over the course of the year and sometimes help out with deliveries, or help a new owner 'sort out' a boat that is new to them. I also like sailing up to boats from astern and observing their sailing abilities, meaning relative speed, stability, leeway, and motion. All of that combined gives me a relative sense of how boats are built and how they sail.
Synergy hardening up onto a beat in building breeze.
Many of my friends are yacht designers, sailmakers, and marine surveyors who also give me an inside track when I am researching a topic.
And since I first posted this in April 2009, I have gotten married to my lovely wife Barbara, who makes me smile, makes me laugh, and makes me think, but not necessarily all at the same time. We just celebrated our 11th year anniversary.
My lovely bride, Barbara and I
That is who I am. Now how I ended up as a moderator on SailNet back in 1996 is another story but for another day......
Donna_F pointed out that newest of the photos above is from June of 2010 so here are some more recent photos taken (2019) racing on Skybird, a Tartan 101 with wind in my hair, a smile on my face, and a song in my heart:
Jeff Sailing 2019 ,
In recent years I have been very active with CHESSS (Chesapeake Short-handed Sailing Society) where I was a founding member and where I have served on the Board of Directors since its first meeting. These days I do a lot of single-handed racing and cruising. This picture was taken at the finish line winning the spinnaker class in the 2020 Poplar Island race.
Poplar Island Race- Synergy at Finish Line 2020-06-27
Lately I also have been doing a lot of mentoring people who are getting into our sport; helping them learn to sail or improve sailing skills, pick the right boat, or to restore and upgrade their boats. (I have recently appeared in the 'Sailing Nervous' video series on YouTube helping a friend repair his boats)
Regards,
Jeff
Who am I? Well, I am an architect (buildings) with my own practice in Annapolis, Maryland (Halpern Architects). I have a masters degree in Architectural Structures which is an architectural degree that is more heavily engineering biased than the average garden variety architectural degree.
A maintenance Day on 'Synergy'
I have some informal training as a yacht designer and have designed and built a few boats, and worked for naval architects and yacht designers at different times in my life, Below was a schooner that I designed back in the 1970's.
BUT I do not consider myself a professional yacht designer. I have also worked in boat yards and as a consultant to boatyard owners, designing repairs and alterations to yachts. My mother had two companies that built and imported boats from Taiwan, which gave me a lot of insights into the boat building industry.
I first started sailing in 1961 and more or less have sailed ever since. In 1963 or 1964, a family friend went sailing with my dad and I and wanted to take a picture of our boat under sail. The picture below is one of his that was taken that day, with my Dad steering and me trimming the genoa.
Windrift 1963-64
When we put our friend on the fuel barge to take the pictures, my dad let me bring the boat into the dock for the very first time. Our friend snapped this picture of me during that maneuver looking at the closing gap between the boat and the dock. I was probably somewhere between 12 and 14.
Jeff Sailing as a 12 -14 year old
I enjoy most types of sailing. I currently sail on the Chesapeake Bay but have sailed on much of the U.S. Atlantic coast. In a given year, I typically will daysail, race (both my own boat and other people's boats), and cruise (both my own boat and other people's boats) and can be out on the water as many as 100 days a year. I do a lot of single-handing. While I have cruised offshore, I strongly prefer coastal cruising. While I have raced dinghies and very high performance boats, I prefer racing 22 to 40 foot keelboats. I have owned wooden boats and enjoy sailing on traditional watercraft. I have a pretty strong background in yacht and working water craft history and have owned a few wooden boats.
Indian- Sarasota 1975
Indian- John Holmes Boat Yard- Nokomis 1976
Diana- end of restoration- Dinner Key- 1973
These days I prefer to own modern performance cruisers.
'Synergy' Hardening up onto a close reach.
In a general sense, I have a preferences for boats that perform well, and that offer excellent sailing capabilities (performance, ease of handling, comfort, and seaworthiness) across a wide range of conditions. I pick a boat based on how she sails with all the rest being negotiable. I really am not a fan of 'heavy weight offshore boats'. (Duh!)
I currently own a Farr 38 (Farr 11.6) which I daysail, race and cruise single-hand. The Farr 11.6's are hard to classify boats and not exactly your normal off-the-rack cruising boat or racing boat. They were built as fast offshore cruisers but have had a very successful racing record. They also have a remarkable record as short-handed offshore cruisers. My boat was single-handed into the States from Cape Town, South Africa.
Synergy beating out of Maryland Yacht Club after a SailNet rendezvous.
I have owned over a dozen boats with family members owning over a dozen more. I race on a variety of boats over the course of the year and sometimes help out with deliveries, or help a new owner 'sort out' a boat that is new to them. I also like sailing up to boats from astern and observing their sailing abilities, meaning relative speed, stability, leeway, and motion. All of that combined gives me a relative sense of how boats are built and how they sail.
Synergy hardening up onto a beat in building breeze.
Many of my friends are yacht designers, sailmakers, and marine surveyors who also give me an inside track when I am researching a topic.
And since I first posted this in April 2009, I have gotten married to my lovely wife Barbara, who makes me smile, makes me laugh, and makes me think, but not necessarily all at the same time. We just celebrated our 11th year anniversary.
My lovely bride, Barbara and I
That is who I am. Now how I ended up as a moderator on SailNet back in 1996 is another story but for another day......
Donna_F pointed out that newest of the photos above is from June of 2010 so here are some more recent photos taken (2019) racing on Skybird, a Tartan 101 with wind in my hair, a smile on my face, and a song in my heart:
Jeff Sailing 2019 ,
In recent years I have been very active with CHESSS (Chesapeake Short-handed Sailing Society) where I was a founding member and where I have served on the Board of Directors since its first meeting. These days I do a lot of single-handed racing and cruising. This picture was taken at the finish line winning the spinnaker class in the 2020 Poplar Island race.
Poplar Island Race- Synergy at Finish Line 2020-06-27
Lately I also have been doing a lot of mentoring people who are getting into our sport; helping them learn to sail or improve sailing skills, pick the right boat, or to restore and upgrade their boats. (I have recently appeared in the 'Sailing Nervous' video series on YouTube helping a friend repair his boats)
Regards,
Jeff