SJSC Member Profile- Eric Jorgensen

Eric Jorgensen is extremely hard-working, knowledgeable about boating, and is very willing to help his fellow sailors on any of their boating questions. He has a wide-ranging curiosity and is an active tinkerer/experimenter. When you engage Eric on a topic it is impressive how much information is stored in his head and how well he can explain it. Eric served as our safety officer and has put in a lot of time writing many excellent and detailed articles for the Backwind. His articles have been on subjects like navigation chart updates, lifeline integrity, mast-climbing, protecting hull integrity, and many many more.

Eric was born in upstate New York and moved to California with his family when he was six. He grew up in Pleasanton. Eric attended UC Santa Barbara and graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in Physics. After college he has had a wide variety of challenging jobs:
– Head of a holographics lab
– Owner/President of his own solar, alternative energy and green building consulting firm
– Specialty Test Engineer and lead tech working as head of an R & D program developing next generation hybrid-electric tanks for the U.S. Army
– Senior Production Engineer in charge of Scanning Electron Microscope development and production
– Retail sales and manager for specialty mountaineering equipment
– Retail sales for boating equipment.
– He has also designed and built an electron microscope!

Eric met his wife Nicole 28 years ago at a mountaineering store in Livermore. They have been married for 18 years. Nicole is our SJSC Membership Chairperson. She is energetic and enthusiastic just like Eric. Nicole works for the County of Santa Clara as an Environmental Health and Safety Specialist.

Eric describes his interest in boating/sailing as follows:
“I have always loved the outdoors and exploring. In New York our house had the Erie Canal running through the back yard and my dad had a small rowboat/sailboat. One of my first memories of living there was floating around in that little sky-blue boat on the canal. When we moved to California I learned to sail at Boy Scout Camp in Lasers and shortly thereafter my dad bought a Catalina 22. We trailered it to many places but eventually kept it in the water in Alameda where I learned to sail it and single-hand it in the Bay.

Nicole and I took a sailing trip to Australia where we sailed a 48 foot sloop the entire length of the Great Barrier Reef and across the top of Australia to the city of Darwin. We also used to crew on a wooden “pirate ship” which was always fun.”

Eric and Nicole’s sailing plans for the future:
Do coastal cruising with Hippo intending to reach Mexico or possibly further. Eventually their plan is to get a bigger, true blue-water boat and “head out into the great unknown and see where it leads us”.

Eric’s hobbies and interests:
Airplane pilot, master SCUBA diver, mountaineer, motorcycle racer, canoeist (white water and flat water), backpacker, hiker, mountain-biker, back country and telemark skier. He plays the guitar and keyboard, likes to read, occasionally write, invent things and then prototype it in his home workshop. He is an admitted tech nerd and likes to design and build electronics as well as building computers, dabbles in programming, and plays computer and console games. He likes to cook occasionally, including baking bread in his Sun Oven, and sews technical gear for rock climbing and sailing accesories. He also does woodworking.