58 AFLOAT.com.au December 2014 KURING-GAI MOTOR YACHT CLUB COTTAGE POINT MEMBERSHIPS NOW OPEN – NO JOINING FEE FOR A LIMITED TIME – Located at the heart of the Kuring-gai National Park Easy, secure parking available on-site Water, ice, fuel and shipwright facilities MAKE FRIENDS WITH KMYC... FOR MEMBERSHIP ENQUIRIES, CALL JANE, OUR CLUB SECRETARY ON 9456 6546 kmyc.com.au JOININGSPECIAL Tributes from Australian friends have poured in for Joe English, the Irish sailor who lived in Australia for a period of time, and who passed away aged 58 on Tuesday 4 November after a seven year battle with Alzheimer’s. Joe’s wife April, daughter Aoife and twin sons Robbie and Conor were by his side in St Finbarr’s Hospital in Cork, Ireland when he died peacefully. They made sure Joe had the best of care at home since being diagnosed, until he was hospitalised in June. Diagnosed in 2007 when he was 51, the disease ended Joe’s illustrious sailing and sailmaking career. Only his short term memory was affected for some years, and he remained his usual cheerful and hilarious self. On a trip to Australia with April after his diagnosis, Joe, being Joe, was listing the positives of his disease – including all the ‘firsts’, amid much laughter. One of the funniest people you could ever meet, Joe was also one of Ireland’s finest sailors, in demand worldwide. He first came to live in Sydney in the late seventies when Hugh Treharne gave him a job. Harold Cudmore and Killian Bushe approached Treharne, who at the time had a sail loft at Seaforth. “ They said they had a funny young Irishman looking for a job, could I help – and I said I could, so he came to live in Australia,” Treharne recollected. Joe also had a long affiliation with Marshall Phillips and his yacht Sweet Caroline at the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia, even delivering it to events such as the Kenwood Cup in Hawaii. According to sailing friends, there was nothing like doing a delivery with Joe – for the fun factor alone. Following the death of his father in 1980, Joe met April Murphy and the couple returned to Australia where he was hired by Jim Hardy, the backer of the 1986 South Australian America’s Cup syndicate. Joe and April later bought a house in Fremantle where they lived for several years after the Cup and married in 1987. That same year, a group of Irish sailors and business figures formed the Sail Ireland syndicate to enter the 1989/90 Whitbread Round the World Race. The 82-foot yacht was designed by Ron Holland and built in a warehouse in Dublin’s Ballyfermot. Named NCB Ireland, it was launched in November 1988 and Joe was appointed skipper in July 1989. He later worked for Syd Fischer’s Steak ’N Kidney team as a sailmaker. “Joe is a person that all who sailed with him will remember him for different reasons,” Fischer said. “ I remember him as being a good yachtie, team player and never short of words. He certainly could make a crew laugh. Just remembering him now brings a smile to my face.” Both Joe’s parents were heavily involved in sailing, and so it became a family affair, which his children have continued. Suaimhneas síoraí dá anam (Rest in Peace) h Di Pearson JOE ENGLISH SAILS ON Joe and April English with Irish president Michael Higgins.