Ocean Crusaders J-Bird (TH)

J-Bird III is TP52 hull #2 and has also competed under the names Flash, FfreeFire 52 and Dodo. She competed in the 2011 Sydney Hobart as FfreeFire but retired and returned as Dodo in 2013, retiring with main damage. Hopefully third time lucky for Two-Handed couple, Ian and Annika Thomson, who raced on John Warlow’s Ocean Crusaders Dodgeball in 2019 and placed third in Division 6.

Thomson found J-Bird III rotting and spent three years restoring it and converting it to an electric drive powered purely off renewable energy. “She is now the ultimate racer/cruiser and our mission is to break down barriers so electric engines become the norm, while having a vessel capable of sailing the world and competing at the front of races,” says Thomson. He founded Ocean Crusaders in 2010 after smashing the solo circumnavigation of Australia record by 26 days, using this to launch the campaign and in turn raise his profile so he could speak with people around the world about his passion for the issues our oceans are facing.

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