Gerry Goulding 3rd July 1928 - 1st October 2022

Published 12:51 on 12 Oct 2022

Gerry Goulding

3^rd July 1928 - 1^st October 2022

The Flag Officers and committee members of the HRSC send their condolences to the family of Gerry Goulding who sadly died on the 1^st October 2022.

Gerry was a keen member of the Hamble X boat fleet. His love of the sea started in his early days as

a rigger as a merchant seaman on cruise liners travelling all over the world. He often commented on times spent cruising up the Orinoco River and the Amazon on The Star, a Clipper, as those days were "terrific" memories to have.

He lived in Locks heath with wife Eileen from the late 70's to early 80's. The property was on a large plot with enough land for Gerry to sell off various parts and still retain enough land to build his own place, where he still lived with Joan until his death

When Eileen sadly passed away, Gerry was left floundering for a while until he found his feet, but in the early days he was a rigger as a merchant seaman on cruise liners travelling all over the world. He often commented on times spent cruising up the Orinoco River and the Amazon on The Star, a Clipper, as those days were "terrific" memories to have.

During all those years on the briny Gerry built up a vast knowledge for life at sea and when he finally came ashore, found a small niche in the market building dinghy's from a small property in Netley. He soon moved on to Woolston where he and Eileen, living above the shop, built up a chandlery business using his riggers knowledge to expand. This small chandlery was in the High Street aptly named "The Boat Shop" and was where he made his living. He was the proprietor of the shop for many years and was always a fountain of knowledge with anything you wanted on boats. He even made up rigging to order and made sure he was competitive with anyone else in the chandlery business on the water.Since he'd been at sea most of his life Gerry felt as though he could turn his had to almost anything that belonged on a boat. There seemed to be no end to his expertise and was clearly a man of many talents.

They ran the business for many years until Gerry's retirement; and although not a chandlery anymore, Gerry still retained ownership of the property.

Initially, after coming ashore from the Merchant Navy he joinedNetley, followed by Warsash Sailing Club sailinglaser dinghy's. At this time he was introduced to X boat sailing by Derrick Hands. Gerry, being a bit of a comedian, used to joke about wheelchair sailing for geriatrics on X boats, but eventually sailed with Derrick for about 18 months on X127, Whyte Hare. Gerry was happy to learn the basics of X boating from Derrick but then got the urge to own his own yacht and bought X150, "Pepper" in 1989. At this time, Gerry was also a keen darts player at the Vine in Old Bursledon and soon met up with Phil Johnston who also had an old boat. Phil was also a handy man and therefore the perfect help with Jerry's venture to build his own house. This meant they spent a lot of time together and it seemed only right that they should team up on X150 Pepper where Phil was his crew for many years, and relaxation was sailing his beloved X150 Pepper.

Gerry totalled well over 1200 races in the period of about 28 years from Hamble and can only be regarded as a brilliant supporter of the Hamble Fleet at home, and occasionally in COWES. He sold her in 2012.

Gerry will be sadly missed, not only by the Hamble fleet and many of the XOD fleet in general, but by all those people he touched in his lifetime. He came with lots of knowledge, experience, fun, and that very dry Liverpudlian humour which we all loved.

Last updated 13:16 on 16 April 2024