What happened to Geoffrey Williams?

[bitbaltic]

Just finished reading a book about the 1968 OSTAR ('Atlantic Venture', by John Groser). The event was won (slightly controversially) by the 25 year old Geoffrey Williams sailing 'Sir Thomas Lipton'.

Groser talks about Williams' substantial post-race sailing ambitions/plans, so I thought I'd see what has become of him, as his name doesn't seem to be mentioned in sailing circles these days.

Williams wrote a book about the race, "Sir Thomas Lipton Wins", which I have oredered from Amazon for a penny.

But an internet search threw up nothing more than somebody else asking the same question as me- without an answer. http://www.boatdesign.net/forums/al...ng/what-happened-geoffrey-williams-53036.html

Can scuttlebutters go one better and shed some light?

 

[jordanbasset]

Interesting, can find very litle about him but here is a picture of him
http://www.pplmedia.com/online/detailguest1.lasso?sid=42F94245114ff33C37QUspM24705&mediaId=71425

 

[KenMcCulloch]

Just finished reading a book about the 1968 OSTAR ('Atlantic Venture', by John Groser). The event was won (slightly controversially) by the 25 year old Geoffrey Williams sailing 'Sir Thomas Lipton'.

Groser talks about Williams' substantial post-race sailing ambitions/plans, so I thought I'd see what has become of him, as his name doesn't seem to be mentioned in sailing circles these days.

Williams wrote a book about the race, "Sir Thomas Lipton Wins", which I have oredered from Amazon for a penny.

But an internet search threw up nothing more than somebody else asking the same question as me- without an answer. http://www.boatdesign.net/forums/al...ng/what-happened-geoffrey-williams-53036.html

Can scuttlebutters go one better and shed some light?

He went on to work for the Ocean Youth Club for several years. He secured sponsorship to enable the building of a fleet of 72' yachts and worked closely with Robert Clark on the design. They were built in a yard in Cornwall, somewhere near Falmouth. Some of these boats are still in commission though not many as sail training vessels. I was in contact with him briefly in the late 1990s but have no idea what he has been up to since then.

 

[bitbaltic]

Thanks Chaps. Seems he is/was living a quiet life after the OSTAR.

 

[phil027235]

Thanks Chaps. Seems he is/was living a quiet life after the OSTAR.

I bought the former home of Geoffrey Williams at auction in August 2018. The place had fallen in to disrepair and has been neglected for some time. There was evidence of work on yachts and more recently wind turbines in the large workshop. I understand that G.W. is suffering from mental health problems and this maybe the reason for his home being in poor condition. The property is undergoing extensive renovations.

 

[Tracy Wills]

He sadly passed away last year.

 

[Frogmogman]

He went on to work for the Ocean Youth Club for several years. He secured sponsorship to enable the building of a fleet of 72' yachts and worked closely with Robert Clark on the design. They were built in a yard in Cornwall, somewhere near Falmouth. Some of these boats are still in commission though not many as sail training vessels. I was in contact with him briefly in the late 1990s but have no idea what he has been up to since then.

I’d be very interested to know more about him, as he was one of the driving forces in what was a hugely ambitious project, transforming the Ocean Youth Club, which had since about 1960 been taking young people to sea in a mixed bag of old boats lent or donated by various benefactors.

Having won the 1968 OSTAR, in the Robert Clark designed Sir Thomas Lipton, Williams loaned the boat to the OYC, and as OYC technical director, not only secured sponsorship to build the new fleet, but leased or bought Freeman’s wharf at Penryn and oversaw the building of the Robert Clark 72 footers.

I know a little bit about it, as my old friend Peter Hambly was one of the OYC skippers at the time, and they all got their hands dirty, building the boats and making it all happen. I did a trip on an Ocean 71 from Fort Lauderdale to Kos in Greece with Peter in 1981. One of the other crew members was Guy Habens, whose father Jo had been one of the original founders of the OYC back in 1960.

The OYC did a wonderful job of making sailing adventure available to a large number of young people. Geoffrey Williams deserves to be remembered for the important part he played in it. Maybe Tom Cunliffe could be persuaded to write an article about it.

 

[Tracy Wills]

Thank you for this information. He was my partner’s step brother. If it’s allowed on here, you could contact him..
[Inappropriate content deleted]
A piece on him would be very interesting, although I didn’t personally know him.

 

[Frogmogman]

It’s generally considered inadvisable to publish personal email adresses on an open forum. If I were you, I’d edit that out.

i didn’t know him either, but knew vaguely of him. I don’t really have anything to add to what I’ve posted above.

There is an OSTAR connection for the Ocean 71 I mentioned. She was called Second Life, and was the boat in which Gerry Dijkstra did the fourth OSTAR in 1972, losing the mast. She was then skippered by Roddy Ainslie in the first Whitbread race.

 

[Deleted member 36384]

One of the ex 72’ OYC Robert Clark’s for sale. I got hooked on sailing with the OYC on Taikoo, the same type for sale here.

Robert Clark 72ft Ketch for sale in Sweden

Interesting thread.

 

[Tracy Wills]

It’s generally considered inadvisable to publish personal email adresses on an open forum. If I were you, I’d edit that out.

i didn’t know him either, but knew vaguely of him. I don’t really have anything to add to what I’ve posted above.

There is an OSTAR connection for the Ocean 71 I mentioned. She was called Second Life, and was the boat in which Gerry Dijkstra did the fourth OSTAR in 1972, losing the mast. She was then skippered by Roddy Ainslie in the first Whitbread race.

Thank you for this information. He was my partner’s step brother. If it’s allowed on here, you could contact him.. A piece on him would be very interesting, although I didn’t personally know him.

 

[Tracy Wills]

It’s generally considered inadvisable to publish personal email adresses on an open forum. If I were you, I’d edit that out.

i didn’t know him either, but knew vaguely of him. I don’t really have anything to add to what I’ve posted above.

There is an OSTAR connection for the Ocean 71 I mentioned. She was called Second Life, and was the boat in which Gerry Dijkstra did the fourth OSTAR in 1972, losing the mast. She was then skippered by Roddy Ainslie in the first Whitbread race.

How do you edit your post please?

 

[double_ender]

I’d be very interested to know more about him, as he was one of the driving forces in what was a hugely ambitious project, transforming the Ocean Youth Club, which had since about 1960 been taking young people to sea in a mixed bag of old boats lent or donated by various benefactors.

Having won the 1968 OSTAR, in the Robert Clark designed Sir Thomas Lipton, Williams loaned the boat to the OYC, and as OYC technical director, not only secured sponsorship to build the new fleet, but leased or bought Freeman’s wharf at Penryn and oversaw the building of the Robert Clark 72 footers.

I know a little bit about it, as my old friend Peter Hambly was one of the OYC skippers at the time, and they all got their hands dirty, building the boats and making it all happen. I did a trip on an Ocean 71 from Fort Lauderdale to Kos in Greece with Peter in 1981. One of the other crew members was Guy Habens, whose father Jo had been one of the original founders of the OYC back in 1960.

The OYC did a wonderful job of making sailing adventure available to a large number of young people. Geoffrey Williams deserves to be remembered for the important part he played in it. Maybe Tom Cunliffe could be persuaded to write an article about it.

I recall a one way delivery trip on Thomas Lipton from I think Brightlingsea to Ipswich when I presume OYC took her over. I will try to look out some photos,
I sailed with OYC in the very early days from ‘63 in most of the original boats, Duet, Equinox, Theodora. Guy Habens was in a pram at Lonridge where Jo was before OYC!,in about ’60. Happy days!
Malcolm

 

[mjcoon]

How do you edit your post please?

I think you have to make some arbitrary number of posts before you are allowed to edit (no idea why!). Maybe if you keep asking that question it will resolve itself!

 

[penfold]

I reported it to the mods and it's been excised.

 

[Eygthene]

I worked with GW and a small team at his premises mentioned above in the early 2000s on the design of two wind turbines and a large generator. He had earlier specialised in identifying ideal sites for wind turbines and had then studied electrical engineering and began designing and constructing wind turbines.

 

[Tracy Wills]

I think you have to make some arbitrary number of posts before you are allowed to edit (no idea why!). Maybe if you keep asking that question it will resolve itself!

?

I worked with GW and a small team at his premises mentioned above in the early 2000s on the design of two wind turbines and a large generator. He had earlier specialised in identifying ideal sites for wind turbines and had then studied electrical engineering and began designing and constructing wind turbines.
[/QUOTE

I worked with GW and a small team at his premises mentioned above in the early 2000s on the design of two wind turbines and a large generator. He had earlier specialised in identifying ideal sites for wind turbines and had then studied electrical engineering and began designing and constructing wind turbines.

He didn’t cope very well when his wife passed, and ended up with dementia, and in a home I believe.

 

[Blueboatman]

I worked with GW and a small team at his premises mentioned above in the early 2000s on the design of two wind turbines and a large generator. He had earlier specialised in identifying ideal sites for wind turbines and had then studied electrical engineering and began designing and constructing wind turbines.

Always a forward thinker and ably minded to direct his talents and efforts to expand options for others.. pretty darn fine cv really

I ‘ think’ I went to a lecture he did on the schools circuit C late 70s . (It was in a all girls school and we few chaps were allowed in but all v polite and po faced delivery )

 

[Hugh Bolton]

I can add a little to GW's activities in the wind energy sector. He contacted me around 1980 - possibly in the late 70s - about a study he was doing for English China Clays- then apparently the largest employer in Cornwall- in assessing the wind energy resource that would result from the construction of wind farms on their land. The study was amazingly detailed for its date and I (then working at imperial College, London) gave some advice on electrical aspects. As far aa I was aware, he was one of only two individuals working in the UK on medium-sized (ie 50 to several hundred KW), horizontal-axis wind turbines with detailed plans for possible implementation. At that stage, 'large' horizontal-axis wind turbines (ie 1 megawatt and above) had not been designed anywhere as far as I was aware and mainstream engineering opinion was that wind energy's commercial prospects were very poor. It can hence be said that he was a pioneer in the field.
The ECP scheme did not go ahead, but GW constructed what I think was possibly the first or second medium-sized, electricity-generating, grid connected wind turbine in the UK, on land near to his premises in Medlyn Moor, Helston. A bit later he became interested in floating wind turbines, an idea which is now under serious consideration by the UK government and others. (In fact it was the proceedings of a parliamentary select committee -broadcast on the Parliament Channel two days ago which included ministerial affirmation of this, that prompted me to do an online search for GW, and hence put together this posting). He also investigated the potential wind energy resource in the whole of Cornwall , this leading to a thesis and the award of a Ph.D by the Open University. I judged his methodology to be imaginative, rigorous, detailed and comprehensive, so the work's impact may well have helped to establish wind energy in the UK as a viable energy resource.
I am very sorry and shocked to learn of his and his wife's deaths, but gratified to see his achievements in harnessing the power of the wind - whether in yachts or with turbines- (and her artistic work) living on.

 

[MichaelWestgate]

Geofff Williams was a talented young geography teacher in the 1960s at St. Bernard’s School in NYC where my father was headmaster. I had recently returned from Europe where I had captained a Greek Caique charter schooner for two summers, following my three years in the US Navy.

He had put together a group of six students, age 14 or so, to spend their week-long spring break sailing in the Caribbean. Unfortunately the schooner Geoff had chartered had just cabled him from the Canal Zone saying they would not be available. He needed someone to help him take responsibility for six boys if he bare-boated a Bermuda 40.

We all set off for St. Thomas and boarded the boat at Red Bay. Everything was fine except for the engine. We wasted half a day while a mechanic tried but failed to fix it. Geoff and I felt we could count on the April trade winds and do without the engine, which we did. We didn’t bother checking in with the parents!

Off we sailed, all around the British Virgin Islands which, in 1967, were much closer to virgin territory than they are today. The winds lived up to our expectations, constantly between NE and SE, constantly 10-15 knots. It was perfect sailing.

Except for one night when it wasn’t! Wind from the E rose to about 30 knots. We started dragging anchor. Fortunately there were few other boats nearby, we were able to raise sail, and re-anchor in the dark.

Tortola was our favourite island but we loved Virgin Gorda too, where we were almost alone.

For our grand finale, we rehearsed and then flew in to the Red Bay marina before the wind. On signal the boys dropped anchor, dropped the main, and we made a perfect Med moor with our stern six feet off the pier.

Two of the boys were great-great grandsons of Richard Henry Dana, author of Two Years Before the Mast (published in 1840).

The following year, they and I were the first to greet Geoff after he crossed the finish line off Newport, RI. Paul Dana leapt on board Sir Thomas Lipton for an embrace before jumping back on our outboard. It was a violation of US Customs and we could have been severely fined. The US Coast Guard let me off with a $50 fine for one of our running lights intermittently going off.

Geoff asked me, the following year, to join him on Sir Thomas Lipton which he was donating to the Ocean Youth Club. We were going to sail in the Fastnet Race. I’ll save that for another post.

So sorry Geoff is no longer with us. He was one-of-a-kind.

Michael Westgate, Cape Cod