The death of Andrew Cassell

I was deeply saddened to learn of the death of Andy Cassell who was born in 1942, and had founded, and remained the patron of the charity for whom Sailing Trilleen is raising funds. At 83, he had graced both the technical and on water parts of the sailing world through the entire post war period. He is survived by his wife Sue, and his children.

Born with congenital limb loss in his legs, at an age when so many disabled children were written off and institutionalised, Andy robustly wrote his own story. Inspired by the Kon Tiki he building his first floating sailing raft aged nine, before going on to display a natural skill on the race course in dinghies. He refined that skill becoming the 1961 national champion in the Albacore Dinghy in the first of a succession of triumphs racing with and against abled crews without fear or favour. He cut a path for genuine inclusion of disabled people in the sport of sailing which despite the greater awareness of the capability of disabled people today remains remarkable. His legacies are many, but first among them is a picture of how the whole sport of sailing can be wholly enriched by the presence of disabled people, in a way which too many of the current disability sailing programmes have yet to even comprehend – much less approach.

His presence around Cowes Corinthian Yacht Club, where I began very tentatively, as a deeply debilitated spinal cord injured person, to explore whether sailing might again play a role in my life again was an inspiration. He ruled the club he served as Admiral with a kindly smile and a ready glass of gin. In conversation I was always aware how I was measured – with the same eyes that had shaped and cut race winning sails for a generation – before the always realistic yet encouraging advice was offered. It was this advice, and the knowledge of the depth of his expertise in every kind of craft which convinced me that sailing Trilleen might be possible for me – and that Trilleen as a Vancouver 27 was a suitable and viable option for me. I owe him, and the Foundation he began, my second go at life and I am deeply grateful for the life he lived and the legacy he leaves.

It was easy to have complete confidence in Andy. It wasn’t a salesman’s trick, or a hustle on his part. He had no need of such cheap tricks. Rather, the his deep maritime experience leaked over his words and was the only endorsement this contribution could ever require. As is the mark of those who are rarely gifted as mentors, the quiet comment, or stories he offered were always pertinent and meaningful. In some ways his most remarkable achievement was not any shining championship trophy, but the fated night in 1979 he spent skippering Juggernaught through the Western Approaches during the storm force winds of the 1979 Fastnet race. He brought himself, the boat, and her crew home without harm in that fatal, disastrous race which shredded lives and boats without regard.

Many others who knew Andy far better than I, and for far longer have offered their tributes, It was my great privilege to meet him in the closing years of his life. He was invested in my small achievements and generous with his time preparation as I prepared for my circumnavigation especially in ‘encouraging’ Ratseys, where he had been a director, to look after me with preparing the sails I inherited with the boat, and still use. I am saddened that I will not meet him on the dock at Cowes Corinthian when I bring Trilleen home from her long, delayed, interrupted and messed about circumnavigation of these islands which he launched – staging a party on departure which I had been trying carefully to avoid.

Andy went down to the sea in ships and saw all wonders and griefs of the deep ocean, what the Psalmist writes of with awe and fear as the great works of the Lord. His life stands as a beautiful example that we are all in disability, in sickness, in poverty, in every kind of danger: human, whole and entire, of equal value. His memory is a blessing and equally his legacy is measured in the many lives he blessed.