It is with great sadness that we report the death of past BISMA Secretary Rees Martin, who died suddenly on Saturday 20th February 2021. Rees was a true bon vivant and a great raconteur with an extraordinary technical knowledge of and love for classic yachts and traditional boat building. 

He owned the 1989 Pelle Peterson designed 6 Metre GBR102 “Bear” for many years, racing regularly with the British fleet and taking on the role of BISMA secretary from 2004 to 2010. 

During his time as BISMA Secretary, Rees played a key role in helping to tidy up the 6 Metre Class Rule, culminating in the publication of an updated Rule in 2007. That issue was the first to introduce Appendix A to the Rule, which allowed older boats a route to getting a valid certificate. Rees also led the organising team for the 2007 World Championship and was involved in supporting other major UK 6 Metre events including the 2014 European Championship in Falmouth, and he continued to provide advice and support to the class throughout his life.

In recent years Rees had very much enjoyed racing “Alert”, his delightful and beautifully maintained Tumlare which was been built in 1935. He played a key role in creating the popular Cowes Classics Week Regatta and provided advice and support to classic yacht sailors, builders and regatta organisers around the world. He was also Vice Chairman of the Association of Yachting Historians.

Away from sailing Rees had extensive connections in the art world having run a specialist art shipping company for many years. He leaves behind his wife Penelope and son Harry and our thoughts and prayers are with them and his family and friends at this difficult time.

An important message from ISMA Executive Secretary Tim Russell

I have just received a copy of an e-mail sent to Sir Robert Owen, ISMA’s president.  In it Mauricio Sánchez-Bella advises us that the Board of the Real Club Náutico de Sanxenxo (RCNS) has taken the decision to postpone the European Championships until next year.  Sir Robert has asked me to pass the message on to you all.

In his e-mail Mauricio comments: “All the big sporting events are being postponed, even the Olympics. We have stayed in touch with the different fleets and everybody shares the concerns about the situation. 

The RCNS Board has met electronically, and we regret to inform you that we are forced to delay the European Championship by one year. Our sponsors have understood very well the decision, and share the reasoning behind it.   We believe that it would be unfair for the competitors that would face very different opportunities to train and in some cases even the legal impossibility to attend the Championship, so there is no other possible decision.

Please share this decision as widely as possible with the worldwide fleets. We will be announcing it in our webpage in the coming days. We believe announcing this publicly will help the different teams organise their season. 

You can imagine that we are extremely disappointed to delay this championship.  We already have – six months before the start – over 30 classics and 15 open division boats expressing their intention to attend, which would have represented a great success. We have been working the last years to prepare the Europeans and the Worlds for the International Six Metre class in our Club, and we believe this is the correct decision to ensure that we can provide a great series of events, giving momentum to the class, and most importantly,  a wide array  of opportunities to race to the class members. 

Considering the preceding, we are preparing a proposal for the Europeans and the Worlds, coordinated with the different countries holding the venues for the years ahead. As soon as it is ready we will forward it to you to discuss.  RCNS is also intending to re-start our monthly 2020 races as soon as it is legally and practically possible.”

I will of course advise you of the detail of the proposals for next year and the following years, so that all the fleets have an opportunity to be involved in decisions relating to the future programme.

Best wishes – stay safe.

Tim Russell
Executive Secretary
ISMA