John Gilmour Manuel: 1938-2026
by Malcolm McKeag 14 Oct 08:29 PDT
24 September 2026
John Gilmour Manuel in 'Tarka' (Dragon 448) in 1974, the year he (with Jim Donald and Malcolm McKeag) won the Edinburgh Cup © Malcolm McKeag
The sailing world on both sides of the Atlantic has lost an iconic figure from the world of Dragon, Metre-boat and match- and team-race sailing as well as international judging and umpiring with the death, from a heart attack at the age of 88 years, of John Gilmour (known as Gilmour or, to his closer friends, as John G) Manuel.
He will be greatly missed by the clubs and sailors he served and sailed with in a life-long career as indeed he will be by a wide circle of friends both social and professional. Born in Scotland and educated at Glasgow University and later at Harvard Business School he was a Flag Officer of both Royal Forth YC and Royal Northern and Clyde - where he was Commodore from 1998 until 2002 - as well as a member of both the Mudhook Yacht Club and Seawanhaka Corinthian YC of Oyster Bay, Long Island, NY, joining the latter in 1977 and remaining active there until his sudden passing.
Gilmour grew up sailing his father's 1946 50ft McGruer ketch Gunna. He raced Flying Fifteens then in 1956 moved into Dragons, starting with Tyra, DK 194, the last Dragon to be built by designer Johan Anker, creator of that evergreen classic. He was Clyde champion in 1960 & '61 and took fifth place in the Dragon Gold Cup at Rothesay 1961. He won the Mudhook YC Young Cup for Universities three years in succession in 1959, '60 and '61. He crewed in the 12-Metres Sceptre 1960 & '61 and Norsaga. Meanwhile he raced Ernie Smart's Sigma 38 for 10 years on the Clyde and was class champion no fewer than five times.
He moved to Canada in 1961 and raced Lightnings, Dragons and 6-Metres from the Royal Hamilton and Royal Canadian Yacht Clubs. In 1964 he joined the Norsaga crew as tactician and joint helmsman - Gilmour did the starts - with David Thomas in Newport, Rhode Island, USA. Along with the more modern Kurrewa, Norsaga acted as trial horse for Sovereign, the Royal Thames challenger for that year's America's Cup.
He returned to Scotland in 1966 and continued racing Dragons. With Tyra showing her age he bought the exquisite Pederssen-Thuesen Tarka, DK 448, and in her he won the 1974 Edinburgh Cup. By that time Gilmour was shifting his interest to the Etchells 22 and was a pivotal mover in the establishment of that class in Scotland. He campaigned three boats to 1996, and served on the Etchells One-Design Technical committee from 1980 until 1995. He also - to keep the class alive - began to 'collect' International One-Designs (IODs) and at one time owned at least three.
Royal Northern YC had been, along with the Squadron, the Royal Thames and the Royal Victoria, one of the initial clubs involved in the establishment, in 1922, of the British-American Cup international four-boat team racing contest, originally sailed in 6-Metres and when that club's later involvement fell away Gilmour established, in 1983 and initially as a helmsman and team captain, the International Commodores' Cup, against Seawanhaka (the American guardians of the B-A Cup) also with a four-boat keelboat team-racing format.
He became an ISAF International Judge in 2001 and an RYA National Umpire the following year and thereafter officiated regularly on both sides of the Atlantic in both international and club-v-club matches involving the Squadron, the Royal Thames, the Royal Northern & Clyde (as it had by then become), Ireland's Royal St George, Seawanhaka, New York YC and the St Francis YC of San Francisco. He had umpired the 2026 Commodore's Cup at Oyster Bay, where he had moved to live in 2024, in the week before he died.
In between times he also raced (invariably, in those days, on the Clyde) Metre boats - Erik Maxwell's S&S 6-Metre Gosling (not the quickest Six to come off that particular board, despite being a scaled-down version of Olin's very successful 12 Metre Goose) and Erik's lovely S&S 8-Metre Iskareen.
These were the days when the Clyde could muster a fleet of more than half-a-dozen restored and re-furbished pre-War Eights, reclaimed from cruising retirement, put back into full racing trim and dubbed, variously, either Straight Eights to distinguish them from the still-flourishing Cruiser Eights of the 8MCR rule or, somewhat cynically, 'the Rentokil Fleet'.
His participation in classic Metre-boat regattas endured, most latterly as helmsman of Murdoch McKillop's very successful 8-Metre Saskia, winning among much else the overall Panerai regatta in 2013. He last raced her in the 2024 Scottish Series.