Mike Richey

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oldvarnish

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Mike Richey died yesterday, Tuesday, aged 92. A consumate singlehander and navigator. 14 solo Atlantic crossings under his belt in a junk-rigged folkboat, Jester, the last at the age of eighty.
Part of sailing history.
 
Very sad to read that. Hadn't seen him for a few years but used to meet up with him and my (non-sailing) late father in various pubs in Brighton as they were very longstanding friends. He had a very philosophical attitude to his single-handed sailing, related to his Catholicism. Jester was always generously stocked with expensive red wine!
 
I am sorry to read this news. I used to visit him at the Institute of Navigation, near where I lived at the time, in the Royal Borough of Kensington, in London.

I met him in the early 1970's having been introduced by Sir Francis Chichester when I began to study navigation.

He was very helpful to me with my studies and encouraged me tremendously.
Visits to the institute were always a treat. He always had something new and interesting to discuss. He was very enthusiastic and his enthusiasm was contagious.
 
I'm sorry to hear this too although he had a very good innings and achieved so much. He was one of the true greats among modern navigators although much of his most interesting work concerned the wisdom and techniques of the Vikings, Chinese and Polynesians. His articles and columns for YM were intelligent, erudite and intellectually demanding - sometimes, perhaps a bit too much so! His sailing exploits in Jester were, of course, legendary.

We will not see his like again.
 
saltwater_gypsy said:
An inspirational man.
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He was very interested in Cartography as well, hence his other link with Sir Francis who had a business in the West End dedicated to maps.

As The Royal Geographic Society was literally next door to his office we used to visit also the Map Room of the RGS when he had free time.

There are housed maps relating to expeditions by famous explorers, navigators, geographical pioneers, and so on.

We used to spend delightful and interesting afternoons looking at and discussing the very maps that had made history and were archived there.
 
The other old boy who was very helpful and encouraged me too was the late Capt O.M.Watts, who was part of this circle and who ran a chandlery business at Abemarle Street in the West End. From him I learnt the principles of Sextant Calibration. He also helped me a lot with the principles of Compass Adjustment. I still have on board a polo neck heavy oiled wool navy sweater that is a bit tired that I bought at his shop in those years. I still wear it and often think of them, Chichester, Haslar, Watts, Richie, Rose, etc.,
 
I met him again last summer at the OSTAR reunion, along with Val Howells and Lloyd Foster, the other grand old men of the event. Still as sharp as a tack and a great sense of humour. He will be missed.
 
I know him only from reading about his exploits but a wiser man, on sailing, I have yet to find. I wonder if one of the keys to success at ocean crossing solo-sailing is a tipple of your fancy? It seems to work well for RKJ as well.
A rare breed of English sailor, I do believe.
 
Do it the hard way

Mike was a good secretary for the RIN, though he was rather a fierce filter in respect of papers for the Jpurnal. We had a few run-ins together, one stubborn force meeting another immmovable object.
His refusal ever to use an engine was typical of his firmly held beliefs. He sat becalmed outside a harbour for hours, refusing offers of a pluck in. The world without eccentrics is poorer. We need sailors who are not Beneteau Boobies. God rest him
 
About 10 years ago I think it was, I was leaning on the railings around the top of the lock at Brighton Marina watching a big ketch pass through. The gent next to me made a comment about her and I agreed, but said something about her being too big for me as a singlehander.
He said he sailed singlehanded and I asked had he voyaged far. He just smiled and said "A fair distance"
When the lock proceedure was finished the chap from the lock control hut said I'd been talking to Mike Ritchey! A polite and modest man.Thank goodness I hadn't started swinging the lamp.:D
 
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