When J.P. Creignou was a child growing up in France, his family would spend the summer holidays in Spain.  There they would spend the entire day on the water either fishing, water skiing or boating.  He completed his education in Paris and graduated from college with a degree in engineering.  J.P. was working as a video broadcast engineer when he met his wife, an American vacationing in Paris, who “brought him back as a souvenir.”  When he came to the U.S.A. in 1984, J.P.’s first job was as a sailing instructor in Redwood City, California.  The couple would live in California for 18 years before relocating to Florida. 

Around age 30, J.P. started to suffer the effects of hereditary degenerative eye disease and he thought he would have to give up the sport.  That was until a friend invited him to participate in the Paralympic Trials leading to the 2000 Paralympics, and he has been “dreaming about competing ever since.”  With his vision worsening with age, J.P. is now legally blind.  But he has been sailing for so long that “I feel pretty at ease on a boat and I know where everything is.”  And, he believes that the team does a good job of making up for each other’s shortcomings.  Adding to the chemistry onboard -- J.P. also shares the same birthday as skipper John Ross-Duggan who says the two are blood brothers.
 

More info on JP Creignou will be posted here shortly.