Highly regarded international sailor, race officer and administrator Stuart Childerley will be the new Secretary of the J Class Association and is set to play a key role in delivering a bright, stable long-term future for one of sailing’s most prestigious and storied class of former America’s Cup yachts.
Double Olympian turned offshore and one-design keelboat champion racer Childerley, 56, will officially take over the role in early April but has been working in recent months over a transition period to maintain the momentum built up by popular, long serving Louise Morton who herself temporarily returned in a ‘caretaker’ role during the last two years.
In the immediate future Louise will remain in the background to support Stuart who is making an excellent recovery from serious injuries sustained in a bicycle accident last Autumn. Childerley will take the lead at the upcoming Saint Barth’s Bucket (17-20 March) where the J Class will race as a fleet for the first time since 2020 in Antigua.
Childerley represented Great Britain at the 1988 and 1992 Olympics in Seoul and Barcelona where he placed fourth both times. He is a double Etchells World Champion and competed on the Volvo Ocean Race and Admiral’s Cup as well as building tens thousands of offshore and inshore miles on many different sizes and styles of race boat.
As an International Race Officer, Stuart was a World Sailing Course Representative at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics and has served as Race Officer with the GC32 foiling catamaran circuit among the dozens of major international classes and championships he has worked with all around the world. He was PRO for the J Class in Antigua in 2019.
