Sad News

It is with great sadness that we have learnt today of the untimely death of Jamie Whalley in a skiing accident in France. Jamie, who was 32, was a regular sailor at Vazon and although he was based in the UK in recent years whenever he could if he was in the island he'd come down and rip up a few waves with the boys at home. I knew Jamie for at least 15yrs and although I can't remember exactly the last time I sailed with Jamie I do have some special memories of him and our sessions together; like a Perelle session on a sunny summer's day that was 6ft+, another session when we were all struggling to hold down 3.7's and he launched into a great backie only 20m off the beach 'one for the boys' he said afterwards; and the time that there was no wind at Pembroke and Jamie rigged up his kit (an old plastic Tiga Wave 254 - remember them?) so we could all practice different manoeuvres; and the time that he and I went sailing in my 420 dingy at Rocquaine with Jamie hanging out on the trapeze loving it - and I'm sure that many of the guys have equally fond memories of Jamie. In recent years I had less contact with Jamie but every time I bumped into him we always had plenty to talk about and he always lived life to full - and of course his Dad would often let me know what he was up to whenever I visited his garage. My sympathies and those of the fellow windsurfers go out to his parents Dave and Sue and his sister Maxine as well as all his friends. Jamie was, quite simply, a pleasure to be around and will be sadly missed by us all.



As a mark of respect Hutchy has asked everyone to meet up at Vazon at 10am on Saturday to go out for a sail and then a bite to eat at the Rocky. Your support would be greatly appreciated.



I've trawled through my pics but couldn't find any of him but here's a photo of a photo that was in the press of Jamie doing a sweet tweaked aerial in a wave comp back in Nov 2003. If you have the original or any other pics of Jamie please send them to me at mattlep@bhg.eu.com so we can all share them.