TRIBUTES have been paid to a former senior planning officer at Winchester City Council and keen yachtsman.

Patrick Pym died on December 4, aged 83. During the 1980s and early 1990s he was a senior member of the council planning management team, serving as assistant director of planning.

A fine yachtsman, he competed for Great Britain in the 1972 Olympics in Munich.

His funeral took place on December 30 and was attended by an eclectic mix of people from the world of sailing, from international and Olympic sailors to those who had regularly competed with or against him in Hamble River Sailing Club (HRSC) Wednesday evening races.

He was a long time National 12 competitor with half a dozen boats to his name, starting his career in Sidmouth back in about ’58 and then culminating in the 1965 ‘Lucky Number’ in which he won both the Burton Cup and the overall week at Thorpe Bay. The boat was particularly notable as the first of the wide breed of 12’s that we see today – a joint design and build effort together with Martin Jones.

Patrick was a long standing member of Hamble River Sailing Club and one of the six HRSC members selected for the 1972 Great Britain Olympic sailing team, competing in the Finn single-handed class.

Following his death friends and fellow club members have paid tribute to Patrick.

One of those was Hugh Welbourn, who describes Patrick as “the one that welcomed an awestruck young (National) 12 sailor to the club”, in an obituary, describing Patrick’s multi-faceted life, which focused throughout on boats and sailing.

And Steph Merry, Commodore HRSC, said: “In an extremely long list of HRSC alumni Pat certainly holds a place right at the very top of the pile, from his achievements in National 12’s, through his Olympic campaigns and then to offshore racing.”

Quite apart from the sailing side, the technical aspects were another area where Pat was developing the Finn, and with engineer David Hunt they set up Needlespars and developed the technology for the aluminium Finn masts, and these soon came to dominate the Finn fleet and became the official suppliers of the Finn mast to the 1972 Olympics.These reigned supreme until the advent of carbon fibre mast moved the game on once more.

Friend Barry Dunning added:

”Memories for me of many rating sessions with Pat on the Hamble, and more than a few times staying with Pat and Mary the night before a crack of dawn start, to make use of the quiet of early mornings on the river. Meticulous and patient in his approach, the boats measured by Pat were always going to be spot on, and if something didn’t quite add up then double checks were the order of the day.”