VALE RON KEMPIN 1931 – 2021
RON
WAS A GREAT CHARACTER, well known as the skipper of the Hereshoff 29, Samantha. He had an amazing life, became a real ‘Old Salt’, and was much loved by all who cruised in company with him.
Ron set up RFBYC Cruising in Company, inspiring many of us to go on regular weekend offshore cruises. The favourite was the annual Quindalup Boxing Day cruise, spread over a couple of weeks depending on weather conditions. He raced Dragons in his early days, then came to love blue-water sailing. Samantha could be seen heading down the river and offshore most weekends, generally alone if he was not leading a cruising fleet. Ron was very generous with his experience, and taught dozens of sailors how to cruise, an important skill to learn with our strong winds and long distances. He taught his fellow cruisers how to fit in with the weather, and plan passages to gain the maximum enjoyment, maybe waiting for days, or departing in the early hours. His famous quote, when faced with strong winds while heading south, was ‘Why have a miserable trip bashing into a strong sou-westerly, when the red wine in 30
Mandurah tastes just as good as the red wine in Bunbury!’. Samantha’s cockpit hosted many good parties, always with Ron’s famous ‘cockies’ or cocktails and entertaining stories. The yacht would be weighed down with drunken sailors and her self-draining cockpit would fill up, so people were chased up to the bow to keep her afloat. Any weekend’s cruise would never arrive home before 5:00pm, so he could escape gardening duties. Ron was a plumber by trade, he was always thinking and very creative. He discovered that Samantha’s copper propellor never fouled up and started experimenting with copper plating of props to avoid the need for antifouling. He had some successes but had mixed results due to the complexities of underwater electrolysis. Ron joined the Club in 1972 and was given Special Membership in 2006.
‘We enjoyed cruising with Ron in the ’90s. We thought he would live forever!’
