Programme Director
Mike Yates

Originally from land locked Cheltenham, Mike originally tried windsurfing on a pond, and it didn’t go well. He then went to Plymouth Polytechnic as he liked the idea of sailing and being near the sea, while studying Hydrography & Navigation.

Racing in the Solent

Mike has now been racing for over 30 years and still loves it as much when he first started. Starting with an Oppie, Mike and his wife Susie now own JAGO, a J/109, and race in the Solent and English Channel.

JAGO came with previous generation Raymarine product which had been gradually upgraded over several years.  Instruments are interfaced to Expedition which means they can undertake a lot of data analysis to improve performance.

Rick Tomlinson

JAGO races inshore with a full crew of 8 sailors, and have a team of 20 experienced racers who rotate around, depending on the regatta or event. Mike is very keen on getting young people on the boat to help get them into racing.

Inshore, Mike races with Will Holland. They have raced together for four years and Will is also part of Pip Hare’s shore team on Medallia. In 2022 they won the Two Handed National Championship having come second in 2021, Mike said ‘this was a great achievement in a very competitive fleet’.

Mike is really keen to help others get the best from their equipment and especially show them how to use it for racing. He also enjoys learning from others about different features.

‘The J/109 is a 25 year old design but it is really difficult to beat in terms of an all round boat for cruising, handicap and one design racing. Believe it or not we do go cruising on her and she’s great.

The general plan is to move onto a bigger boat and do some long distance cruising but we need to find a boat first so in the meantime we shall be continuing having terrific fun with JAGO.’

Paul Wyeth