Chris Law passes away at Lake Constance

by CL on 30 Jul 2007 It is with great sadness that we share the news that Chris Law passed away at Lake Constance, Germany on Tuesday 24 July 2007 aged 55.

Chris began his extraordinary sailing career at Lymington racing cadets with his brother Tim. His outstanding talent rapidly propelled him onto the International scene where he won the Finn Gold Cup.

He went on to represent his country at the Olympic Games in Los Angeles in 1984 in the Soling before moving on to a new challenge in the form of match racing and the America's Cup.

Chris was a much loved son, father, grandfather, friend and member of the international sailing fraternity and will be deeply missed by all.

Memorial service details will be released in due course.

Sail-World NZ cannot let Chris Law's sad passing go without comment. He held a special place in the heart of Kiwi's for his America's Cup and Match Racing commentaries. Probably his most notable was in the 2000 where he provided expert commentary for the live TV broadcast.

Chris had relatives in New Zealand and always took great pride in his Kiwi connection.

Chris had an incredible base of sailing, match racing and America's Cup knowledge which he mixed with his school teaching background to provide an excellent sailing dialog which provided viewers with a very rare insight into the technical side of the sport and how the plays and nuances were developing. He was without peer in this regard.

He coupled this knowledge with a very blunt communication style which always went straight to the point very quickly, and usually in the first sentence he uttered. Chris never sat on the fence. He always had an opinion and could back it up with fact, sound reasoning and an excellent pair of eyes.

He never suffered fools gladly, and quickly let them know it. But he was as hard on himself as he was on others.

As a matchracer he was top of the game for many years, known to the umpires for his tempestuous moments as much as his tactical brilliance. If Chris didn't agree with a call, he generally let you know about it, and you knew that you were in for a dissection of your decision, done with surgical precision, in the de-briefing room that night.

Eventually the umpires took him to task about his fiery reaction to decisions which went against him. Law was a little nonplussed 'I don't know what comes over me', he said. 'It used to get me into a lot of trouble at school as well!'

Chris Law will be remembered as the John McEnroe of sailing - a great character and fierce competitor who gave of his very best in whatever aspect of sailing he was involved.

And thanks for that jib you lent us in the '82 Soling Worlds, mate, after ours was stolen. Didn't do us much good in the end, but the gesture was that of a geat sportsman.

He will be sadly missed, and another who has left us much too early.

RG
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Three weeks ago I was walking down the pontoon in Cowes during the Swan European Regatta and I heard a voice going 'Oy Wheatley, why aren't you in Valencia?' It was Chris Law. We chatted about the Cup, he always had time to speak with me and let me know exactly what he thought of world sailing. Chris was a maverick. He upset people, he brawled, he argued, he protested, he cajoled but he was always damned entertaining and you could feel his electricity. There are few people in the world that have that aura around them - Chris did. Every one of the world's top racers feared him on the water and his racing record was exemplary - Britain has lost one of its best...

For the rest of this excellent commentary on Chris Law see: www.rule69blog.com
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Emails received at Sail-World:

Such sad news, such a great man. Thank you for honouring him. Sail on, Chris.

from David Blee
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For Chris Law in both his personal and competitive life.
When it was bad it was realy bad. When it was good he was great and unbeatable. Chris should be remembered for his highly competative nature If you raced against him you better bring your 'A' game to the party!

A dear friend will be missed.

From Jerry Richards
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Chris Law - Accuracy

I am deeply saddened to hear of Chris Law's passing.

He and I were childhood friends and spent our summers racing each other. His start in sailing was not at Lymington though I believe he did a little sailing there, but on the River Thames at Tamesis Club Teddington where he sailed cadets for five years.

In preparation for Dick Law's retirement from the Navy, the Law family bought a flat just across from the sailing club where Dick sailed an 18ft National and Chris and Tim initially shared a Cadet (2623 GiGi) The brothers did not do well in a boat together so they started sailing apart. Dick Law took on the job of Cadet Captain.

In 1966 Chris was still struggling to be competitive and I was invited to sail with Chris at the Cadet Nationals in Plymouth swapping helms each race. Chris's sailing improved dramatically that year, he also got new boat, (5757 Betelgeuse) and we went on to have a fierce rivalry in cadets and much success as team racing teammates.

In 1968, our Tamesis Cadet Team members finished 2nd, 3rd, 4th (Law, Hartje, Morgan) in the Cadet National's at Burnham. I went to Poland for The Cadet World's that year, the following year Chris and Nick Morgan went to Australia. I believe, though I am not certain, that Chris finished 2nd in Australia,(He was always 2nd in those days, it became a standing joke, it wasn't until he won the Finn Gold Cup that he broke that jinx.._))

He will be missed, he was way too young to be gone.

regards
Will Hartje
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My deepest condolences to Chris's family and friends. I bumped into him at the De Vere Hotel in Southampton just the week before he died and he seemed fine, downloading his emails and looking fit and well. His last words to me were 'see you in Cowes'.

Chris has always been one of those contentious characters but he contributed so much to the sport. I for one will miss him steaming into the Skandia Cowes Week media centre on a regular basis with the next piece of hot news for me - usually it was to let me know he was launching a protest. Such tragic news for everyone concerned.

Sender: Peta Stuart-Hunt

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From the World Match Racing Tour website:

This past week the World Tour and the world of sailing lost one of the great competitors and personalities of this sport. Chris Law won 12 Grade one events during his career and was always one of the most feared skippers in any line up that I have ever seen.

While you may not have agreed with Chris you certainly knew where you stood and he always gave you his honest opinion whether you agreed or not. He was always there to help make an event better and would contribute his thoughts on how to make the sport and match racing better from on the water, to television or through the race commentary.

I had coffee with Chris just over a month ago at Match Race Germany in Lake Constance. He was in good spirits, shape and took the time out that day to help us write our daily press release. He also had a few opinions on how we could improve the World Tour.

I will greatly miss his input and his personality. He truly was an 'outlaw' which always made for great entertainment and great copy. Chris loved the sport and loved to compete and he truly put his heart and soul into his racing.

He will be greatly missed.

Scott MacLeod
President
World Match Racing Tour

http://www.wor