FIYC / HHC Sailing Director

Jonathan Farrar

This will be Jonathan’s eighth season as the FIYC / HHC Sailing Director and he looks forward to another summer on the water leading a growing youth sailing program that emphasizes fun and having good times with your friends while developing confidence and a love for being on the water.

A native of southeastern Connecticut, Jonathan has been sailing and racing at a high level since childhood. He has won national, continental, and world championships in multiple different classes, including most recently skippering his team to their third world championship title in International One Designs.

Jonathan’s racing career started in Blue Jays at the Niantic Bay Yacht Club.  He helped found the first public high school sailing team at East Lyme High School, where they finished 2nd and 3rd in the High School Sailing Nationals. His international racing started in the I420 class, where he was a member of the U.S. national youth team in three world championships.

Jonathan quickly moved on to Olympic class sailboats. A twelve-time member of the U.S. Sailing Team from 1993 to 2004, he crewed in 470s and Tornado catamarans. Highlights of the 470 campaigns included winning the 1994 North American Championship, being training partners at the 1996 Olympics, and winning the 1997 Miami Olympic Classes Regatta. At the 1996 Summer Olympics, Jonathan was also the head coach and team leader of the Jamaican Olympic Sailing Team.

In 1999, Jonathan started racing multihulls—the Tornado Catamaran. He finished 3rd at the 2000 U.S. Olympic Team Trials and became training partners for the 2000 Olympics in Sydney, Australia. Jonathan was the Tornado National Champion in 2002 and 2003 and finished 2nd at the 2004 U.S. Olympic Team Trials, narrowly missing an Olympic berth. He again participated in the Olympic Games by helping to coach his former adversaries to a silver medal at the 2004 Olympics in Athens, Greece.

Jonathan now combines high level racing and coaching. He raced Extreme 40 Catamarans for Team Tommy Hilfiger as tactician and mainsail trimmer, winning the 2006-2007 Volvo Extreme 40 Series. In the Corsair Trimaran, he won the 2005 Chicago Mackinac Race, the 2006 Acura Key West Race Week, and the 2007 National Championship. Other significant regatta wins include the 2004, 2013, 2015, 2017, 2018, and 2022 International One Design keel boat World Championships.

Jonathan lives on the island with his wife Isabelle, daughters Maya and Celeste, and their Boykin Spaniel, Slocum. In the off-season, Jonathan is the Head Sailing coach for Northeastern University and also coaches high-level youth, Olympic and Paralympic teams.