Voices of the Bay: Bristol’s Jessica Collinge

When Jessica Collinge was growing up on Lake Minnetonka in Wayzata, Minnesota, her family had a small cabin sailboat called a Newport, foreshadowing her future. After earning a bachelor’s degree in communication from the University of Colorado at Boulder, Collinge worked in interior design in New York, and then in Vail, Colorado, where she took up a friend’s invitation to visit Newport for a weekend. Her attraction to the area was instantaneous. She packed her life into her Jeep and drove across the country, taking an interior design job on Aquidneck Island. A desire to learn more about the sailing lifestyle took hold and four years later, she spent a winter working on charters as both sailing crew and chef. On the journey back to Newport, she imagined Lazyjack Provisions, where for 20 years, the Bristol resident has done everything from creating fresh meals for sailing race crews to sourcing kitchen goods and beverages, as well as concierge work for boat owners and chefs. When not provisioning, Collinge enjoys getting her hands dirty, and earned her certification as a Master Gardener from the University of Rhode Island in 2022; she now offers Lazyjack Digs gardening services, too.

Following the Sails: I was fascinated by the Newport sailing industry life but intimidated and wanted to learn more. I met someone with an old wooden Sparkman & Stephens yacht who was in the Caribbean. I bought a roundtrip ticket in case it didn’t work out, and loaded up on cookbooks and started teaching myself how to cook; I would figure out the sailing part when I got there. I learned to run the boat and cook on it.

Captain Randy: I met Randy West, now deceased, in St. Barts. He gave me his name and number should things not work out on that first yacht. When I decided to call him, he said, “Come to St. Barts ASAP!” so I took a ferry and did, and that changed the entire course of my experience. Randy gave me full reign to act as chef and mate on board. We sailed to Antigua on Easter Sunday and picked up our charter guests the following day to race in the Antigua Classic Yacht Regatta, which we won! Afterwards, we sailed and explored various islands while making our way back to St. Barts. I then met the captain of Ticonderoga [classic L. Francis Herreshoff sailing yacht] and struck up a deal to do my first delivery back to the states. So much for the round-trip ticket.

Aha Moment: I remember going to a crew agency and the back of the office was set up like a little grocery store. I’m like, “you mean I can put my grocery order in and save the time of getting on shore, walking to the market, and shopping while I try to speak French?” What a time-saver! That’s when I started thinking about starting my provision business. Give me your list, and I will gather the goods – I am the Peapod of the sea [Stop & Shop’s food delivery service].

Double Entendre: When I was in St. Barts, I heard somebody say, “Hoist the lazy jack” and I had never heard it used and I said that’s the cutest name. It’s rigging on a sailboat where the lines come down and then they split off, and when you drop the sail instead of the sail flopping into the water it conveniently holds them. It’s like what I do: let me gather your goods.