Jim visited us on June 14 and made a fascinating presentation of the upcoming 500th anniversary of Magellan’s voyage. We learned all sorts of stuff like – How to find a country to sponsor you, how to deal with mutinies, and much more. But more time was needed to finish the presentation as Magellan had just left the ‘Straits of Magellan’ and was heading into the Pacific. The only thing is at that time, neither the Straits were named after Magellan nor was the Pacific called the Pacific yet.
This week Jim will present – Part 2 of Magellan.
James K. Foster is The Magellan Project founder and project manager. Jim holds a Bachelor of Science Degree in Geography from Florida State University. Jim has studied and researched the history of the Magellan expedition since 1993. This has involved field research in Spain and Portugal, Italy, southern Argentina, Guam, the Philippines, and Malacca.
Jim’s Magellan field and academic research has resulted in a successful application for membership in the Explorers Club, January 2019. Jim is also an active member of the Circumnavigators Club. Jim currently owns the Sea Monkey, a Crealock 37, sailing out of Seward and Resurrection Bay, Alaska since 1993. In 2005, Jim crewed on the heavy weather leg of the Mahina Expedition aboard a Hallberg-Rassy 46, the Mahina Tiare, from Auckland, New Zealand to Papeete, Tahiti.
He also served as one of the crew of three sailing the 52' Alden ketch Royono II from Titusville, Florida offshore in the Gulf Stream to St. Michaels, Maryland in 1997. Jim has bare-boat chartered in the Caribbean, Florida, California, Thailand, and Australia. He is a USCG licensed 25 ton master and also a PADI certified Rescue Diver. In 2016, Jim served as the ship's medic for a crew of 18 onboard the 348' Dino Chouest, an anchor handling/tug/supply vessel transiting from Dutch Harbor, Alaska to Fourchon, Louisiana via the Panama Canal.
In 2014, Jim served as the ship's medic for a crew of 19 onboard the REM Supporter, a 94 meter platform supply vessel sailing out of Stavanger, Norway to Murmansk, Russia and on to the Kara Sea for an Exxon/Rosneft arctic offshore drilling project.
Jim is a retired 21 year firefighter paramedic and Operations Battalion Chief from the Anchorage Fire Department. He was adjunct faculty at the University of Alaska Anchorage 1991-2010 and served 2010-2012 as an Assistant Professor and Coordinator of the Fire and Emergency Services Technology Program.