Nigel Howe

It is with great sadness that I have to report the death of Nigel Howe.

A long standing member of our Club and a great club supporter.  Latterly he has been the New member Captain and welcomed and looked after many new arrivals at SYC.

H will be sorely missed.  I am privileged to have known him.

Our sympathies to Caroline and the family.

John

Along with many people, I am immensely sorry and very sad to learn such news this morning !

Nigel was always incredibly passionate about the club and its wonderful location and loved sailing his Dart out to sea and up and down the river and in just being down at the club !

My sincere and heartfelt condolences to Caroline .

So sad to hear the news of Nigel's passing. Always a gentleman, he was very much part of the fabric of the Club and will be sorely missed. Sail on, my friend.

Alistair & Moira

Nigel was the first person we met at the club a true gentleman demonstrating all the values of a sailing club. 
We were sad to hear the news and will miss our conversations as we walked our dog in the lane to the club. 
We send our condolences to Caroline and family. 

Simon and Grace and Archer. 
 

Many many tributes have poured in from cruisers on our WhatsApp group showing how much Nigel meant to so many of us. He will indeed be sorely missed and we all offer our thoughts and prayers to Caroline at this sad time. 

So sorry to hear this sad news. Nigel
was such a kind and friendly gentleman. His presence will be greatly missed. Thoughts are with his family x

We were both immensely saddened to hear the news about Nigel. It's so hard to believe as I was working with him only a few weeks ago on one of the many little jobs he busied himself with around the site. He was such a friendly and affable man and the welcoming face on all the Club stood for. Members may be interested to know that he was the longest standing member of the Club joining in January 1963. He will be sadly missed and our sincere condolences to Caroline and his family.
Steve and Sarah Peat

 

We are so sorry to hear the sad news about Nigel. A lovely, kind-hearted man with a gentle sense of humour, a friend and neighbour. Thinking of Caroline and family.

Charlotte & Dave

I'm so sorry to hear this news. I met Nigel for the first time in February when he was kind enough to meet me at the club late on a sunny Sunday afternoon and show me around. He was full of energy and incredibly passionate about, and very proud of, the club and its location.
A charming charismatic gentleman who loved sailing his Dart.
Met once, never forgotten.
With sincerest condolences to his family,
Sarah

Such sad news, Nigel was a warm and gracious man and always great to catch up with when we bumped into each other at the club talking about sailing of course and our respective families. He'll be much missed at SYC and beyond.

We were both immensely saddened to hear the news about Nigel. It's so hard to believe as I was working with him only a few weeks ago on one of the many little jobs he busied himself with around the site. He was such a friendly and affable man and the welcoming face on all the Club stood for. Members may be interested to know that he was the longest standing member of the Club joining in January 1963. He will be sadly missed and our sincere condolences to Caroline and family.
Steve and Sarah Peat

 

I am very sad to see the passing of Nigel. A true gentleman , who always had time to say hello and have a chat. He will be missed by so many.
My condolences and thoughts are to his family.
Mike

I’m so sad to hear this news. Nigel was so welcoming to new members, and always happy to stop and chat. Many of our Family members will have been welcomed and shown round the Club by him, whether pre-arranged or completely spontaneously.
My thoughts are with his family at this time.

Helen.

How very sad. Nigel seemed in very good form when I bumped into him at the club last month. He was always the absolute epitome of good manners and charm, something that can never be learned or faked. We were very lucky to have him at SYC in a role that could have been designed for him.

Very sad to hear this news, Nigel will be badly missed.  A true gentleman and a fantastic ambassador for the club, always happy to chat to sailors and shore crew alike.  Condolences to the family.

Fair winds and smooth seas

Dave and Kate Lee

Like so many of us, I will miss Nigel greatly. He mentored my transition from lasers to Darts, and took me cruising downriver. On one occasion we rounded Dawlish Warren to see huge breakers crashing over Pole Sands. I had my teenage daughter with me (Nigel was single-handing) and had promised her breakfast at the Harbour View. But Nigel sailed straight into the waves, so we followed - girl on wire - flying between the crests. Once out west beyond the sands into the deeper water we tacked and I thought to head into the café. But Nigel bore away to surf back in …. we followed of course …. The most thrilling (and probably dangerous) catamaran sailing of my life. Forever grateful! 

Like many, I have sent my condolences to Caroline and the family earlier.

I must write to say that when I arrived at SYC some 16 years ago, Nigel seemed to be always out on his Dart 18, often taking someone new to Dart sailing as crew. I came from an inland sailing-puddle and my 11ft dinghy wasn’t quite up to the Exe tides! Before long Nigel introduced me to the Darting way of life, and another long-standing member was selling his Dart…
.
One day, I arrived down at the club, to find a fresh burgee affixed to my catamaran (what a gentleman Nigel was!), it will be treasured even more now.

RIP Nigel.