The sailing and boating scene in Ireland has lost one of its most versatile and interesting participants with the death of Tom Hudson of Dun Laoghaire and Royal St George Yacht Club at the age of 90. Most recently, he has been known as a popular figure in the Dublin Bay Water Wags, where he and his wife Jennifer owned and raced Penelope from 1990 to 2004.
Then typically, having retired from active racing, the Penelope duo took over the on-water staging of the weekly Water Wag races in Dun Laoghaire harbour for several years, and had the satisfaction of seeing the class continuing to grow with new-built boats joining the fleet, such that now the Wags – whose current boats date from a 1900 design though the class was originally formed in 1887 – have registered racing numbers above fifty.
Even had he not been interested in boats, Tom would have been drawn into the sailing scene, as he married Jennifer Millar, one of the “Millar Girls”, daughters of the sailing-devoted Toby Millar who was architect to the Bank of Ireland. The bankers’ architect’s new son-in-law was something of a man of mystery, for although everyone knew him as Tom, nobody could say why, as he had been christened as Robert when born in India, where his father served throughout the sub-continent with the Indian Army.
Tom Hudson in the 1960s at the mighty tiller of the Shannon Barge 32M. At the time, he was also active in the 505, Fireball and Olympic Finn Classes
Home again in Ireland, he rose through the ranks of the Dunlop Tyre Company, eventually becoming CEO of Dunlop Ireland, and over the years he developed a voluntary interest in successful fund-raising for cancer research.
His interests afloat included the inland waterways, where he was involved with the “slightly converted” barge 32M before going on to more manageable motor-cruisers, while in dinghy sailing he was active in the 505 and Fireball classes when they were the elite of the Irish small boat scene. He was also one of that special group in the mid-1960s who raced a competitive Olympic Finn Class in order to improve Ireland’s chances in the Olympics in that most demanding of boats.
This support for new sailing initiatives was further reflected in his more senior years, when he was among the pioneers in Dublin Bay with the SB20 Class - introduced as the SB3 - which he raced for two seasons.
Well-fendered. Tom Hudson glimpsed during a recent Shannon cruise
Typically, he wasn’t completely land-bound nor indeed water-bound either, as he was a pioneer of hang-gliding. And in another direction entirely, he was a talented sketcher and painter, and an able photographer. Thus when the very first edition of the magazine Irish Yachting was being put together in 1962, they needed a photo of yacht designer John B Kearney, and it was Tom who provided the definitive image of the great man at work (aged 83) on the drawings for the 54ft yawl Helen of Howth.
The defining image – Tom Hudson’s photo of yacht designer John B Kearney (aged 83) at work in his home in Monkstown on the plans for Perry Greer’s 54ft yawl Helen of Howth in 1962. Not everyone was allowed into the great man’s drawing office – a brass plate above the door said “God Gives Us Our Relatives – Thank God We Can Choose Our Friends”
Tom Hudson’s has been a well-lived life, lived to the full, and our deepest sympathies are with his devoted family and his very many friends and former shipmates. He leaves this life as he lived it, with his own take on departures in an unusual funeral on Monday, October 9th. It will be a civic service in the National Maritime Museum in Dun Laoghaire at 11.0 am, a classic Hudsonian irony as the NMM is the de-consecrated former Mariner’s Church.
WMN
