EIGHT BELLS: Graeme Hayward

Graeme Hayward passed away peacefully Thursday July 4, 2013 at the age of 85. A gifted dinghy racer, rules expert and lifelong contributor to the sport of sailing, he and his wife Jan were well known on the international regatta circuit.

Graeme raced International 14s for 31 years, winning the Canadian championship in 1958, the team race world championship team in Bermuda in 1959 and the Canadian team race championships on six occasions. He was Commodore of the Royal St. Lawrence Yacht Club in Montreal, and was a life member of the Itchenor Sailing Club, the Royal St. Lawrence Yacht Club and the Oxford-Cambridge Sailing Society. He was voted Canadian Yachting Association Volunteer of the year in 1995.

He helped establish the International 14 World Association and served as World and Canadian class president, Measurer and Rules Committee Chairman. He authored the first I-14 constitution and class rules and oversaw the trials and world-wide adoption of the single trapeze in 1971. He was inducted into the Canadian International 14 Hall of Fame in 2011.

After Fourteens, Graeme helped develop and introduce umpiring to the match racing world. A member of the ISAF Working Party in Lymington, he helped draft the first rules for umpiring and match racing (now Appendix C). He served as an International Umpire for 15 years, helped develop the Umpires’ call book and co-authored and administered the ISAF Umpires’ test. In 1993 he published the “Match Racing Handbook” which at that time was one of the most comprehensive references on the sport available to competitors and officials alike.

Graeme chaired or umpired at over 50 international match racing events including various Louis Vuitton, Nations and Gold Cups, fourteen York Cups and the 2007 International C-Class Championships. For 30 years he was an ISAF judge, serving at 34 world and 57 major championships around the world. Back home, he was a member and chairman of the Canadian Appeals, Racing Rules and Umpires’ committees over a 39 year period. In recognition of his contributions, he was elected member emeritus of the Appeals committee in 2004 and named Canadian Judge emeritus in 2011.

A loving husband, father and granddad, he will be missed for his kind advice, devotion, leadership, and selfless volunteerism.