Missing cruising solo veteran overboard

by Gregory Walton on 5 Aug 2015 A renowned yachtsman and British sailing champion has died after being found in distress off the Cornwall coast when his ‘back to basics’ bid to cross the Atlantic in a boat designed in 1908 ran into difficulty.

Philip Walwyn, 68, had been expected to arrive in Falmouth earlier this week after sailing single-handedly from Nova Scotia via the Azores. He departed St. Kitts on June 1 and was destined for the Mediterranean.

However his yacht was found going round in circles with its sails up off the coast of the Lizard Peninsula with no crew on board on Monday.

The Coastguard was alerted just before 2pm when another vessel discovered the stricken yacht.

Mr Walwyn, who was known for refusing to wear a life vest, was subsequently found nearby in “very serious condition” and died shortly after being airlifted to hospital.

Police are not treating the incident as suspicious and have alerted the Marine Accident Investigation Branch.

His sister Susie and her husband were waiting for Mr Walwyn to arrive in Falmouth, Cornwall, and spoke to him shortly before he died.

She said: “He rang me from his sat phone. This was to be his last Atlantic crossing. This was his 17th and the sixth one he had done solo.”

His family speculated that he may have been knocked into the water while making adjustments to the yacht and succumbed to the cold conditions.

Walwyn had been sailing on ‘Kate’, an international 12-Metre class sailing yacht which he hand built along with two friends, completing the four-year-long project in 2006.

The boat is named after his widow, Kate Spencer, an acclaimed artist he lived with on the Caribbean Island of St. Kitts.

The vessel was based on a 1908 design by the renowned Scottish boat builder Alfred Mylne.

Walwyn constructed the vessel from scratch on a shoestring budget in the boatyard he built on his family’s hillside sugar plantation in 1978.

Walwyn was born in Britain where he attended school before moving to his family’s sugar plantation on St. Kitts in the 1960s.

He went on to win both the British and European championships in the six-Metre class in 1987.

He has since competed in several annual Caribbean regattas including Antigua Sailing Week and the Route du Rhum. Walwyn later become a consultant and director at the Fortress Marine Ltd Boatyard, a firm which builds catamarans for the Caribbean tourism market.

“It is with great sadness that we say goodbye to one of the world’s utmost sailing legends, and our past Commodore, Philip Walwyn,” said the club in a statement.

“We all give thanks to Philip, to his knowledge and sense of humour, whether it be sea or land.

“Philip will always be remembered for his heroism, his honour and his very silly sense of humour.”

Nicholas Dupre, a friend from St. Kitts, paid tribute to Mr Walwyn.

He said: 'A sad day for all those who were inspired by the one of a kind man. A true Hero of a sailor who passed doing what he loved most.'

For full story go to http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/law-and-order/11782008/Body-of-missing-champion-yachtsman-found-off-Cornwall.html