An impressive career of sailing and coaching young sailors
When you ask Jahn Tihansky about how he got started in sailing, you will hear a familiar tale of a 10-year-old curious kid on the docks who was given opportunities and mentored by more experienced sailors. As a sailing-crazy adult, the Tampa, FL, native pursued his sailing passions which brought him eventually to Annapolis. From becoming a sailmaker and loft owner, to owning J/World Annapolis, to signing on as head coach of the U.S. Naval Academy’s (USNA) Varsity Offshore Sailing Team, he has made an impressive career of sailing and coaching young sailors. After 18 years leading Navy's offshore team, in the fall of 2023 Tihansky announced his intention to step down as the fulltime head coach. We connected with Tihansky to hear about his journey and what’s next:
What were your greatest challenges at Navy Sailing?
As someone who’s not a member of the military, learning the culture of the Academy and how it functions. I had some really good help along the way, including the Midshipmen who guided me. Yvette Davids (the incoming superintendent) was my boss when I first started, and she was very supportive of our program and helped to figure out logistics and resources for significant ocean races, such as the Bermuda Race.
What are you most proud of?
Our safety record, having put that many boats and Mids on the ocean over the years and brought them all home safely, and providing them with valuable lessons learned that they could carry out into their careers. Over the years I’ve gotten emails and messages from so many of them saying that it was the most important part of their professional training.
Any stand-out memories?
There are funny ones and frightening ones. We did the 2012 Bermuda Race on our TP 52 Invictus in 53 hours… 650 miles! We broke the previous record. We also broke a lot of stuff on the boat; we saw 50 knots of wind. It was one of the most exhilarating, frightening, gratifying, and humbling experiences I’ve ever had on a boat. To have done it with that group of kids and look back at how they started (as beginners) was incredible.
The cherry on top was that we got caught in serious weather on the trip back. We said, “We can do this without blowing out all of our sails!” The Mids truly had control of the boat—they were prepared and had everything set up right. We confronted the tiger, and the tiger blinked.
What lessons from Navy Sailing will you take into your own future?
When sailing, make good, sound, conservative, risk-management decisions, both strategic and tactical, to protect gear and your crew. That’s where the biggest lessons have come for me… The Midshipmen are young, hard-charging kids who are told they are the best and super smart—and they are—but they do need to learn about possible risks and consequences. I think this is what they’ve taken into their lives, and I have, too.
What are you going to do next?
Decompress! Do some private sailing coaching, do some sailing races I’ve always wanted to do (but didn’t have time), and map out my next chapter while I’ve still got some youth in the tank.
Any upcoming adventures on your calendar?
In March, I’ll do the Everglades Challenge (an unsupported, expedition-style, 300-mile adventure race for kayaks, canoes, and small boats) with my friend Jeff Linton again. This will be our 10th one. We’re totally addicted to the adventurous nature of the event!
Interview by Molly Winans
*** How does military training help with sailing preparation? Find an interesting article about it here.
