Ireland's sailing, boating & maritime magazine

The Heg was a tower of strength on other people’s boats, and a skilled and thoughtful skipper on his own craft, doing meticulous research on any cruising ground he planned to visit. He played a key role in several Fastnet campaigns and the Irish Sea championships in the 1960s and ‘70s, including taking line honours and winning overall in the 1966 RORC Beaurmaris-Cork Race as skipper of the 8 Metre C/R Orana. Then 1978 saw his return to ownership with the folkboat Alara, in which he won several major championships and cruised extensively too – The Heg with Alara was the very personification of the folkboat ideal. Subsequently, he cruised many miles and club raced with the Achilles 9-metre Freebird, and then on retirement took over the management of his brother-in-law’s Hallberg Rassy 42 Safari of Howth and began his cruising in the Mediterranean, taking time out to sail thousands of miles in the round-the-world voyage of Peter Bunting’s Hallberg-Rassy 46 Gulkarna II. In 1995 became an owner again with the 36ft Westerly Conway ketch Oleander of Howth (he was a Laurent Giles fan), and for the next decade cruised the length and breadth of the Mediterranean, spending six months on the boat every summer. Each year, after weeks of sailing in the sun, he looked like the German film star Curt Jurgens. In typically dry Heg style, he remarked that “if this Herr Jurgens insists on looking like me, that’s his problem”. His cruising was in itself an example and service to fellow enthusiasts, but he also gave of his time in practical ways. He had become a member of the Irish Cruising Club in 1957, and served for many years on the committee. He was Honorary Secretary from 1981 to 1990, Rear Commodore in 1992, and Vice Commodore 1993-96. The Heg was a fount of wisdom on anything to do with sailing, and excellent company. He is much missed.