Widely regarded as one of Britain’s most natural sailing talents, Richard had accumulated a truly remarkable tally of dinghy titles, including ten World Championships and an almost incalculable number of National championship victories. Unsurprisingly given his championship success rate, he was amongst the most regular competitors at the invitational ‘Champion of Champions’ Endeavour Trophy, an event at which he claimed victory on three occasions.

Eschewing Olympic yachting in favour of a more commercial route, Richard managed to translate his passion for sailing into a successful business. The Speed Sails organisation has become a household name within the UK sailing community, supplying equipment, sails and boats to the nation’s most successful sailors and their comprehensive tuning guides for the most popular dinghy classes are essential reading for aspiring champions and club sailors alike.

Richard’s sailing career began in the Midlands at Chasewater where his prodigious talent was first spotted and nurtured by the members of Chase Sailing Club where he has remained an active member and staunch supporter. It was here that he was introduced to the G.P.14, a class with which his name will always be synonymous. In 1979 he was crowned both National and World Champion for the first time. Incredibly between then and 2000 Richard went on to win a total of twelve national and six world titles in the G.P.14. He always remained fiercely loyal to the class which had brought him so many successes, even donating a new Speed Sails FRP hull as part of a raffle prize to celebrate the class issuing sail number 14000.

Richard also applied his talents to the Enterprise Class with similarly successful results and managed to win the World Championships on four occasions which he matched with a string of four National Championship victories.

In 2007, as well as adding yet another G.P.14 National Championship to his extensive list, Richard fulfilled his long time goal to win a Fireball World Championship when he claimed victory on the final day at Lake Silvaplana in Switzerland.

Given his roots as a ‘pond sailor’ in the landlocked Midlands, Richard’s ability to turn in championship winning performances on the open sea and often in fleets of over a hundred boats, perfectly illustrated his innate talent. Double G.P.14 World Champion Simon Relph, who had more first hand experiences of Richard’s abilities than most, recalls that ‘Richard simply didn’t make any mistakes. If he was behind you he would pounce on any slip up and if you let him get in front then he was gone.’

Despite his incredible successes, Richard was quiet and calm and unassuming individual whose open and friendly manner in the dinghy park made his victories all the more popular amongst his fellow competitors. Close friend Simon Potts, who crewed for him over a fourteen year span, remembers that on the water Richard was always respectful of the other competitors. He also recalls that his laid back demeanour evaporated the moment the warning signal sounded. ‘At that point he instantly became highly focused. It was like flicking a switch. Nothing else mattered except the race. Richard’s aggression was generally channelled at himself, although if you did make a mistake he would certainly let you know about it. He would keep up a bit of a muttered running commentary about the race. Everything from the state of wind and waves, what the other competitors were doing, why we were going where we were going and what he expected to happen next. It was a stream of consciousness which I called the ‘Estaugh Chunter’ and only people who crewed for him will ever have heard it.’ According to Simon the finishing gun would always signal a return to Richard’s more relaxed persona and other than the occasional quick debrief on the way in, the day’s successes and failures were left on out the racecourse.

Richard’s legacy of dominance in the major UK dinghy classes throughout the Eighties and Nineties will forever set him apart and one of the tragedies of his untimely death is that we will be denied the opportunity to find out what other victories might have lain in wait for him. Close friends knew that he harboured a burning desire to win a second Fireball World Championships and a newly purchased boat was due to be launched next weekend.

There is a term which is bandied about in the yachting media so freely as to render it almost meaningless, but those who either raced against him, knew him well or were lucky enough to count him as a friend, will recognise that in Richard Estaugh we had one of the few people who genuinely merited the description ‘sailing legend’.

Our thoughts are with Richard’s family and close friends at this impossibly difficult time.

Justin Chisholm
14th April 2008.