ECYD News cont’d Shortly after, I heard from Mike Kearney that his father Tom Kearney, who served as ECYD Captain and Yacht Husband, had also died.
T
and became a Yachtmaster. He dearly loved his sailing, and not just the “après sail”. He would obsessively plan trips, creating his own pilotage notes for any possible locations his boat might go. All this research was freely shared with the other Long Trip skippers.
om’s career was with what became British Telecom for his whole working life. He started as a telegraphist and moved into sales, dealing with businesses in the East End of London and Docklands. This was bandit country in those days with the Krays influence still around. He moved into sales of bigger phone systems to bigger companies and then into training sales teams nationally. He even taught a young and probably Tom Kearney at the wheel on an ECYD Thames not very keen newcomer called Barge weekend on the River Blackwater, 1993 Martin Clunes, but he seemed to have ambitions elsewhere. Tom got heavily involved in steam railway Tom’s first East Coast charter on Saoirse preservation at the Stour Valley Railway, was for a week in Sept 1986 (Ramsgate – now the East Anglian Railway Museum. Dunkirk – Nieuwpoort – Ramsgate - West Never one to be just crew, he ended up Mersea) and he skippered the first of many secretary of the society, was signalman, Introductory training cruises the next year. guard, site supervisor and was involved Tom was a trainer in BT, and he in rescuing two steam locomotives from transferred his skills to sail training in the scrapyard at Barry, bringing them ECYD; he enjoyed navigating which is back to Essex to run again. where the rumour started that Tom didn’t like to get his sailing gear wet, so His love of sailing started as a young if rain was likely, Tom would say it was man from reading Swallows and time to do a bit of navigation and leave Amazons, and he had a lad’s holiday the helming to those who enjoyed the before he was married and later two freshness of rain on their face! family holidays sailing yachts on the Norfolk Broads. It is not certain how Tom’s strengths were his practicality. and when the offshore sailing started After experiencing maintenance but it was through the CSSA and problems with Callisto, he set up the initially on some South Coast trips as properly organised and documented crew. He did his evening classes yacht-husband system which is still ongoing in the ECYD today.
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