Born: Brightlingsea, Essex UK on 20.04.1935
Died: Lymington, Hampshire UK on 25.01.2021
Bob Fisher, the larger-than-life yachtsman, journalist and author crossed the bar peacefully on January 25th surrounded by family. He was 85.
Three days before, Sir Ben Ainslie had called him from Auckland, New Zealand where he and his INEOS Team UK America's Cup team had just won the most exciting race in the 170-year history for the 'Auld Mug' to dedicate their victory to this fabled Cup historian.
Bob Fisher was born and bred in the coastal town of Brightlingsea, Essex UK and made sailing his life. Engaged by stories from the professional Brightlingsea fishermen who crewed the big yachts of their day, including Sir Thomas Sopwith's two British J Class America's Cup challengers Endeavour and Endeavour II in 1934 and '37, he first made a name as a top crew, winning 7 national and world titles in the National Hornet and Fireball high performance dinghy classes. He also won the International Yacht Racing Union trials to select a 2-man trapeze catamaran trials with his Brightlingsea friend Reg White which led to the Tornado being chosen as the first Olympic multihull class.