Patrick Pym

Patrick Pym was a long-time member of the Hamble River Sailing Club (HRSC) and was one of the six HRSC members selected for the 1972 Olympics. He started racing 12-foot dinghies at Sidmouth in the late 1950s and went on to become one of the leading national competitors in this class. Over the years he owned some well-known 12’s, including Lucky Number, with whom he won the National 12-foot Championship for the Burton Cup, with crewman Derek Sinden.

Pym’s natural progression was up to the Finn Class and he set his sights on the 1968 Olympics after rising through the world rankings. Despite taking part in the pre-Olympic Regatta at Acapulco in 1967, and faring well in the Olympic Selection races at Poole, Pym was only a reserve for the Games. He did, however, travel to Mexico and helped Michael Maynard with his training.

Pym was selected for the Olympics four years later after trouncing the favourite, and 1968 Olympic Flying Dutchman gold medallist, Iain Macdonald-Smith in the trials at Torbay. At the Games, however, Pym finished 18th out of 35 starters and was disqualified in race five after facing two protests. He was no stranger to controversy over the years, and in one incident, when a Continental opponent barged him at the start-line of a race, he hit his opponent with an oar and subsequently earned the nickname “Pym the Paddle.”

Pym’s was a co-founder of Needlespars with Flying Dutchman world champion David Hunt. The company developed the technology for aluminium Finn masts and these became standard within the sport until replaced by carbon fibre masts some years later. Needlespars were the official suppliers of aluminium masts to the 1972 Olympics.

After Finns, Pym moved up to offshore racing with quarter- and then half-tonners, and also J24’s. After his retirement, Pym joined the Royal Ocean Racing Club Rating Office Measurement Team in 1992.