John Rousmaniere

John Rousmaniere is a titan of yachting journalism, having written hundreds of articles and several books on sailing and seamanship. He was an onboard reporter for both the 1972 Bermuda Race and the infamous 1979 Fastnet Race, races in which both fleets experienced extreme heavy weather. Rousmaniere’s book Fastnet: Force 10 helped create change in yacht design and offshore safety equipment.

You quickly started a freelance career when you were younger and spent a lot of that in sailing. What was your initial motivation?

I was brought up in Cincinnati, OH, which is a baseball mad town. My father was a sailor. Eventually, we moved back to Long Island when I