Fred Espey 1933-2018

Fred Espey of Dun Laoghaire, who has died aged 85, was best-known in sailing as Commodore of the Royal Irish Yacht Club from 2001 to 2004, the culmination of many years of service to the club in a variety of roles. Yet while his quiet-spoken charm and ready hospitality enabled him to fulfil the demanding role of Commodore with the complete support of his wife Eileen, these official duties only temporarily obscured the fact he was very much a man of the Dun Laoghaire waterfront, enjoying the company of others who, like himself, were proficient in the ways of boats and their equipment, and in the skills of the sea.

Although the family home of his boyhood was in Dublin where Ringsend is verging into Ballsbridge and he went to school in St Andrew’s, he lived for the summers spent in Dun Laoghaire with relatives whose house was next door to the legendary “gentleman boatbuilder” Skee Gray. In Skee’s workshop, young Fred was soon acquiring boatbuilding skills which he continued to practice for much of his long life.

The breadth of his knowledge of boats and how they function was further demonstrated when Dublin Bay SC decided to take a pioneering step in acquiring a catamaran for their Committee Boat. This in time became Mac Lir, and one of the prime movers in the project, Fintan Cairns, recalls that a first port of call for advice was an informative and detailed conversation with his friend Fred Espey.

He retired from the animal feeds business while still young enough to develop his interest in diving into an underwater contracts business, but as ever there were unexpected spinoffs. One day in checking moorings in Dun Laoghaire Harbour, he discovered the long-sunken hull of a 19ft Squib keelboat. Nobody was interested in claiming it, so in his spare time, he renovated it completely and then assembled a rig from the remains of a broken Dragon mast.

It was a passion which he has passed down the generations, as his eldest son David is one of the leading figures in the Classic Yachts movement, both in Dublin Bay and internationally. He and his siblings Alan and Helen have also seen the loss of their mother Eileen two-and-a-half years ago. Our heartfelt condolences are with them at this sad time and with Fred Espey’s ten grandchildren and his recently-arrived great-grandson James.

In his quiet yet determined way, Fred Espey was a very special one-off, and he will be much missed by his many friends in the sailing community.

by WM Nixon on afloat.ie