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Dear Members and Friends,
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It is with great sadness that we announce the passing of Past Commodore and Vice Patron, Mr John Martin Forde BEM. John passed away on Friday 27th September aged 89.
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John was a stalwart of South of Perth Yacht Club and a Member for over 56 years. He was a tough competitor in all sailing events and used that skill to effect by becoming the State’s first recognised specialist offshore race officer at a time when no formal accreditation scheme existed.
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John was the race officer for the inaugural Fremantle to Bali Race in 1981 – a race quite different from the way the event is conducted today. It involved a conventional race to Bali and a pursuit style race home again, stopping at Dampier and Geraldton and re-starting each time. Those events were run without trackers and GPS systems, though some of the big money boats boasted a Satnav, which updated their position several times a day – a far cry from today’s GPS units, where even hand-held units update every few seconds.
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The Geraldton Ocean Classic was one of John’s favourite events and it was he who put together the tireless teams who looked after the fleet – Tender 1 at Rottnest Island, Tender 2 at Wedge Island and a close relationship with Jurien Volunteer Sea Rescue.
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The Little Wheel match racing regatta also owes its origins to John Forde. As a senior executive in the James Hardie Group, his sales manager Doug Fortescue set up a challenge with Main Roads. That challenge was taken up widely by many classes of yachts, but to be eligible, the skipper had to be a customer of the James Hardie Group. It became so successful that there are reports that some skippers made a purchase of Hardie’s product just to make themselves eligible to compete!
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John was also instrumental in arranging the concrete capping of the timber jetty walkways which extended the life of the Club jetties for many years with the last old timber/concrete jetty 4/5 being demolished in 2017.
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John led the Club as Commodore from 1985-1987. He skippered many yachts including The Fan, Rogue and The Avenue.
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His legacy was one of mateship and thoughtfulness for others. He was a fine leader in the true sense of the word and will be sadly missed by all who knew him. Our thoughts are with Jean and his family.
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On behalf of the Flag Officers, Management Committee, staff, and Members we extend our sincere condolences to all his family and friends.
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South of Perth Yacht Club
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