Eight Bells: Capt Marty Rijkuris.
by Guy Nowell, Sail-World Asia 17 Dec 2019 15:30 GMT
16 December 2019
Capt Marty, 29 years of reporting the Raja Muda © Guy Nowell
It is with great sadness that Sail-World Asia reports the death, yesterday, of Martins Rijkuris, unappointed chief of the Asian sailing press corps, universally known across the region, founder of AsianYachting.com and the Asian Yachting Grand Prix Series, and affectionately known to one and all as ‘Captain Marty’.
Marty was best known for his encyclopaedic knowledge of all things that have sailed in Asia since Noah capsized an Optimist, an unflagging enthusiasm for the sport, a succinct and pithy opinion when required, a unique take on grammar and spelling, an Olympic-grade grumbling act, and an uncanny ability to spot bullshit at 40 fathoms. If Capt Marty didn’t know about it, then it probably didn’t happen.
I got the bad news yesterday just as I was heading for the airport. “We lost Marty this morning” was the short message from Alan Parkhouse. At first it seemed patently ridiculous as it always does when you wave goodbye, fully expecting to see someone tomorrow, or next week, and then finding out that this really was the last goodbye. “But that can’t be. We had a drink together last Saturday (Phuket King’s Cup) and went to the airport together the next day…” Heck, we’ve lost Marty a few times over the years, usually finding him having one more coffee and a roll-up on the balcony of the Royal Langkawi before hefting a roll-top waterproof bag onto his shoulder and heading towards the pontoon and the Media Boat. Marty had the timing down pat, even if the rest of us thought he cut it a bit fine sometimes.
Originally from Darwin, Marty arrived in Asia with the Australian Maid programme in the late 1980s, found that he liked the place, and stayed. From then on he was substantially responsible for connecting Australian sailors with Asian regattas. He created AsianYachting.com, sold “the fastest sailing gloves on the planet,” started a sailing school in Port Dickson, ran the Asian Yachtmaster Certificate and Academy, bought and sold a few boats (and claimed to have sold one particular Farr 1104 no less than four times), and carved out his own particular niche of regatta reporting where almost none had existed before.
I met Marty at the Royal Selangor Yacht Club in November 2003, having been assigned to cover that year’s one-off Omega Asian Yachting Circuit. The answer to almost everything ‘media’ seemed to be “ask Capt Marty”, so I did, and over the next 17 years a friendship based on mutual respect, a lot of laughs, and a few raised eyebrows was formed. Every year - including this year - Capt Marty would pick me up at Kuala Lumpur International Airport for the drive to the Royal Selangor and the start of the Raja Muda Selangor International Regatta. The Marty Mobile was notorious: an ageing 4D of dubious pedigree, with no air conditioning and permanently open windows with an idiosyncratic operating system. It was hot, and very noisy, and all the way from from KLIA to RSYC Marty would bring me up to date on local sailing matters in his characteristic low mumble. I still have no idea what he told me, any of it. We had a boiled-over radiator one year, and the wheels nearly fell off in the RSYC car park on another. We even lost it once, at the Crystal Crown, but that story needs a beer for the telling.
“I’m not a photographer,” Marty told me. “I just take pictures to go with the race reports.” He wasn’t much into camera maintenance, either, and the cameras he used were a testament to some sort of faith. “There’s something wrong with my camera,” was a familiar grumble. There was the jammed mirror that I fixed with the pointy end of a Leatherman (ouch), and various bits were held on with superglue – intended to last long enough to get to the end of the regatta, but never actually going back to the workshop.
Marty’s pride and joy had to be the Asian Yachting Grand Prix. The idea was to score performance in various Asian regattas, and award a Winner’s title to highest aggregate score of the year, and thereby encourage sailors from all over Asia to enter more regattas. In keeping with Marty’s opinion that “our kind of sailing” should always be a Corinthian sport, there was no prize money – just bragging rights. The annual prize, traditionally awarded on stage at the close of the Koh Samui Regatta, was two bottles of champagne (carefully purchased at an airport on some previous regatta trip) and the skipper/owner having a photo taken wearing the AYGP blue blazer from Armani Tailors of Koh Samui.
The first couple of years worked well enough, but the scoring system quickly became ‘type forming’: only an IRC 0 or IRC 1 boat was ever going to win, and Marty wanted the AYGP to encourage everyone, not just the flash boats. So at Marty’s invitation, a panel of a dozen or more sat down for a meeting after a Top of the Gulf Regatta about 10 years ago, and re-worked the system. The present AYGP is the result, and it seems to work!
Capt Marty covered 26 Phuket King’s Cups, 29 Raja Muda Selangor International Regattas, and goodness how many other regattas. Phuket Raceweek, Top of the Gulf, Singapore Straits, Commodore’s Cup, Royal Langkawi and many many more. The list is indeed long, including the Olympic Regatta in Qingdao in 2008. This year the RMSIR presented Marty with a special ‘Long Service’ award in recognition of 29 years of reporting.
“Ah. A proper yacht club,” said Marty, the first time he appeared in the Main Bar at the RHKYC. “Chock full of people who actually go sailing, and all talking bullshit. Rum and Coke, please.” Wherever you are old feller, here’s wishing you fair breeze and a safe trip. For sure there are plenty sailors on the Other Side, and you can give them a few tips and pointers.
I’ll miss you, Marty. RIP.