Hi All,
Just received this from Ken Kershaw at the RYA;
It is with sadness that I tell you of the death of Elizabeth Macmillan following a short illness. 'Mac' was a measurer for many years and a great supporter of the RYA and its racing activities. I understand that there will be an announcement in the Daily Telegraph very soon with details of the funeral which will be in Weymouth on Thursday 24th May. Unfortunately I shall be out of the country on business on that date but I have no doubt that many of you and other measurers will be able to attend.
David
Y177
Thank you for passing that on David. It is very sad to lose such a character. I will never forget my first attempt to get something check measured by her at a Burton Wk (probably '98 when she came out of retirement as we were local to her). Suffice to say that we ended up doing the check her way!
Antony
As a former measurer, I am also saddened to hear of Elizabeth's passing. I remember her looking over my shoulder rather sternly when I made the first measurement of Punkarella at a Burton Week at Llandudno, 1978. Boy, wasn't that weight measurement tight! Am sorry that I can't get to Weymouth on the 24th.
Ken Goddard
N.2300
I can remember Elizabeth or Super Mac as she was known behind her back collaring my father after we had limped round the course in a rather windy day's sailing at Plymouth to measure a boat. This of course meant that small son had to hold the end of tape measures as he and SuperMac jotted down measurements.
Without her input however we would not have the robust set of rules for all of our friendly measurers to check all our measurements by.
I remember Elizabeth not only as a ruthlessly efficient measurer but also as a very competitive Thames sailor who we invariably met at her home club's (Staines SC) open meeting and many others. We all new not to push our luck with her on the start line or at any of the marks!
My first experience of Burton Week (Pevensey Bay 1974) saw me unpicking the Bruce Banks logo from my jib as Elizabeth had established that it fell a few millimetres outside its permitted position!
She was a great character and a lovely lady. I had the pleasure of meeting her again a couple of years ago when she handed back the decanter trophy. We had aranged to meet in a car park in Dorchester - would I be able to recognise her about 25 years on from when I last saw her? - No problem - she'd hardly chaned and was as sharp and quick witted as ever. I suddenly realised that this quick handover had turned into a half hour chat abouut old times and I had to leave for a meeting!