The news of Colin Vickerman’s death in January 2022 was received with great sadness at Halifax Sailing Club. Colin was a long time member and former Commodore. He made a massive contribution to the Club. In the last few years, sadly he was not able to be so active due to illness, and died peacefully with his family in attendance.

Colin joined the Club in 1986 and started his sailing in a Mirror dinghy. Straightaway he was smitten with the sailing bug obtaining qualifications which eventually led him to having a share in a sailing yacht in Greece, which he loved.

We all have great memories of him:-

For 5 years between 2001 and 2005 he was the forward looking and forceful Club Commodore.

It was Colin’s vision which saw the installation of electricity at the Club, he ground the best deal out of the generator and gas suppliers who probably dreaded his negotiating calls. The installation was organised by him and he fabricated and welded the cage which kept the generator safe from thieves. He was cursed by a few of us as the locking bracket on the cage dug into our backs while doing the servicing.

He championed the purchase of the Rigiflex safety boat, which was over 10 years ago and it’s still going strong.

On the water you certainly knew if he thought you were the “give way” vessel!

While Colin was around there was no chance of seeing what a kite surfer could do at Fly Flats, what would he have made of foiling boards?

With leftover stone from his garden improvement projects, he would always make sure the reservoir erosion defences were improved with their addition.

Stuart Watson also remembers:

Sailing with Colin in UK waters, he was prone to breaking things or dropping them in the sea but to his credit he always used his engineering skills to straightaway manufacture a replacement part!

Above that Colin was a happy sailing companion and whilst putting his heart and soul into his sailing, doing more than his share about the boat, also had time to make us laugh.

He was generous in his help to others and often would assist club members by making replacement metal parts for broken dinghies or trollies.

Colin was always eager to learn. When he took on the role of Club Commodore he had little knowledge of how to conduct a meeting but he soon learned and became a worthy Commodore driving the Club forward for 5 years in the role.

Colin was a truly genuine bloke, Halifax and Yorkshire through and through and I feel privileged to have been able to count him as a friend.

Colin was a kind and humorous Member of the Club with a ready smile. He is sadly missed, but will be remembered for many years.

William Redman – Commodore – Halifax Sailing Club