Richard Estaugh

We were shocked to hear this sad news. We have sailed against Richard for
over 20 years in Fireballs all around the world. We always appreciated his
abilities to race sailboats and he was always a pleasure to sail against, he
will be missed by us all.

Chris & Heather Payne

I have look at this page for a while now and am still not sure what to say.
I think that the word legend is used very lightly, but with Richard he
would get my vote as a bloke, sailor and friend. I was very lucky to have
been given the chance to work for him. He then would let me hardly work
and just go sailing, while giving invaluable advice. (When u could get it
from him!) He was so unassuming. What he said was what happened, if it
suited you or not you knew where you stood. Jim Hunt once said to me he
would win the Olympics if someone would manage him in a boat and i
think he was probably right!
I hope Steph and Ben who have not seen for years get all the support at
this time, and that people remember he never changed the shape of his
Ent and GP sails since 1981!! So Keep buying them!!!
I am honored to call him a friend and will forever be sad that i cant have
one last chat with him.
Thanks Rich was a pleasure always!

Stevie Morrison

Still finding it quite hard to come to terms with, I'm still expecting him to
come walking through the door to work and asking me what sails have got
to go out this week!
I can only aspire to sail as well as he did!
He was a great boss, mentor and friend and will be sorely missed.
Thanks for all the support for my sailing and sail making.
Love you Rich.
Taxi.

Anybody wishing to attend the funeral, please see the details posted on the
speed sails website.

My sincere condolences to Richard's family.

I sailed against Richard about thirty years ago when he started making sails and sold them from the boot of his car.  Richard was one of the most fair and friendly competitors to sail against.

Not so long ago, I contacted Richard when I was going to be in UK for a while and he offered to lend me a boat. Such generosity was typical of Richard.

His premature death is a sad loss to the sailing community and all who have had the fortune to have known him.

 

 

The news of Richard’s death came as an immense shock.

 

I first saw Richard sailing in 1985 when I was 13 years old. He won the local GP Open by absolutely miles and he became my lifelong hero from then on.

 

I felt so privileged when he asked me to crew for him in ’89 and I was lucky enough to crew for Richard for the next 7 years in Ents and Merlins.

 

It was the ultimate learning experience.

 

I have so many fantastic memories and thanks to his sailing ability, some great achievements from those days. It was during this time I understood what a fair and good guy Richard was in sailing, business and life in general.

 

In recent years I have got to race against Richard in Fireballs, he was the perfect competitor, hard to beat but fair, he was a great bench-mark in the fleet as if you ever managed to occasionally beat him, you knew you must have sailed really well.

 

Richard was my greatest mentor in sailing and on reading the Y&Y forum he was clearly a mentor and hero to so many sailors over the last 30 years.

 

Richard, I will miss you, my thoughts and deepest sympathies are with Ben and Steph at this time.

 

Chips Howarth