Liz Rushall recently compiled a number of stories from Glyn's friends and sailing partners. Many were printed in the Yacht's and Yachting tribute in March 2008. With thanks to Y and Y, here is the unedited version; we hope they make you laugh and cry as much as they did us.

Chris Allen - fellow Bosham SC member

"Glyn’s first ever trip sailing, as a kid, was in an old gaff rigged Gull, in Emsworth with his sister Merion.  He had absolutely no sailing experience, except an old second hand book he’d read about it.  He and Merion launched, with the book, and had a lovely broad reach down the harbour.  He thought this sailing stuff was all very easy, until he turned round and tried to get back, when it was something of a different story.  Oddly enough, Glyn stuck with sailing, where as Merion was slightly less keen afterwards.

Another memory is about Glyn practicing in waves outside the entrance to Chichester Harbour.  He had capsized and was somewhat stranded with his mast stuck in the mud.  Undeterred, he cut the rig away, righted the Laser, took his spray top off, and sailed home using it as a spinnaker.    He was always looking for ways to make his sailing cheaper.  One time he cut up one of his mum’s mixing bowls to make mounting for this compass.  She wasn’t all that impressed.  And he used to turn ski-poles into tiller extensions until he worked out they didn’t perform so well in salt water!"

David Acres - fellow Bosham SC member

"Before Glyn could drive, he would often cycle 30 miles down to Bosham from Winchester and then go out racing or practicing with friends and then cycle back to Winchester.   There were times when he would pass groups of road-racers, whilst brushing his teeth.  He was super fit.

He loved water skiing and would push the dory out from Emsworth and ski in the Harbour at the crack of dawn before the harbour master was up. He once mono skied from Emsworth to Bosham in a dry suit with his tuxedo on to go to the Bosham Ball.

He was the youngest person to win the Laser Nationals until Ben Ainslie came along. Unlike Ben, he had considerably less support from his parents and he did not follow the normal routes through the RYA youth squad training system. His results probably surprised a few young sailors and coaches at the time, when he appeared almost from nowhere to win events.

 He was never big headed and always had time to talk to or help other sailors."

Rod Carr, Chief Executive, RYA

"Just after Glyn started sailing Solings he rang and asked if he could come for a discussion on prospective crews at my home. I agreed and he arrived slightly late, some hours later. We had a "full and frank" debate [you always did with Glyn!] and off he dashed in his beaten up old Alpha Romeo to his next appointment. Some twenty minutes later the phone rang - it was Glyn. "Rod, can you give me a hand? I've rolled my car and landed in a ditch on the A32, I think it is written off,  the recovery truck is on its way.... but I wonder if you could give me a lift to a mates house so that I can borrow his car?"  That was Glyn - irrepressible, slightly manic, enthusiastic and a great bloke." 

Peter (Morty) Morton

"Glyn used to ride his bike from Winchester to Emsworth to go sailing.  I once asked him why he had bandy legs. When he was young he was mad keen on show jumping and rode a lot. One day his father said to him that show jumping was a "girls sport". He never went riding again and took up sailing which was sailings gain and show jumpings loss.

When we put together an Admirals Cup Team in 1993, I wanted to get some of the young up and coming sailors involved. I had no doubt that Glyn was the best guy to helm GBE and he never let me down. On that infamous first inshore when Harold Cudmore sunk Fram, Glyn also hit Gurnard Ledge and snapped off the 2 ft  wooden shoe. The boys finished the race with half a keel!  Those "nippers" included Andy Hemmings, Andy Beadsworth, Simon Fry, Richard Faulkner and Adrian Stead, names no that need no introduction today and I have no doubt that Glyn would be at the top of the game if he were still with us. Offshore, Glyn never gave up despite being badly seasick he was always there when needed.   I miss him."

Mark Covell

"This is what I know, feel and think about Glyn Charles

I first met Glyn Charles in 1989 on the campaign road to Barcelona. I had just started fumbling my way round the Olympic regattas sailing first Solings then Stars. When you first start sailing in the Olympic classes, your teeth are cut from legendary stories about those who have battled and survived the dragon that is Olympic glory.

I remember sitting and listening intently in the Castanets bar in Palamos to Jochen Schuemann who had just won the Soling Gold for the GDR at the Seoul Olympics. He described the waves were as big as the Berlin Wall and the wind blew as hard the Iron Curtain. They had watched Laurie Smith and his crew surf down a cliff face like they were abseiling into a pothole of foaming rock, and almost sunk the boat. He also told us how hard they trained fulltime back in East Germany. I remember thinking how the hell could you beat a team that is so focused and so well prepared with limited RYA grants and snatched training sessions, while trying to hold down a job, just to pay for some new sails.

As Jochen spoke I looked at the faces around. Most were openly in awe and like myself, over-awed by the legend. One person in the crowed had a different look on his face; it was a look of self-belief, a look of dogged determination and most of all a cheeky grin. When I think of Glyn today that’s the face I see.

I sailed against Glyn many times before he finally asked me to sail with him. From the outside, when competing against his team you are convinced that they are having more fun than you. And they are! Practical jokes, rude names for the opposition and good level of comradely abuse for his crew, all made for entertaining time on good ship Glyn. Just think of what went on when you mix Glyn Charles with Simon Fry, a powerful combination of tomfoolery and sailing skill. Glyn’s view was that the game is hard enough already, without making it any harder on yourselves by not having fun.

Life on board was never dull. As well as his good humour, Glyn was often a hard taskmaster. There are many stores of Glyn handing out the firm advice to his crew. John Derbyshire, now a very senior member of the RYA, told me a story of crewing for Glyn at the J24 Worlds. Glyn dropped the helm and gybed the pole himself mid manoeuvre screaming “Made” as he ran back like a misbehaved Jack Russell to finish his own Gybe at the helm. You will have to ask John weather it was a good gybe ?

The problem was that Glyn was such an all-round sailor. His seamanship skills were straight out of the boy’s own book of boating, to the letter and always executed with a grin.  You had to work hard to keep up to speed, before he would firmly point out a way of doing it more effectively. And I thought he had enough on at his end of the ship?

It was Glyn’s tenacious persistence that would often get him in trouble. At the time I first met Glyn he was sailing on the heels of Laurie Smith, the darling of the RYA. During that time, Glyn told me he felt that first he would have to win against the RYA and then beat Smith; then he would get to the Olympics and then take on the rest of the world. That was the system and Glyn was never a fan of the system. After campaigning for Seoul and Barcelona, Glyn finally won through; beating Smith in the Star to compete at the Atlanta Olympics crewed by the most talented Lithuanian Scotsman that’s ever sailed, George Skuodas.

 I was sailing with Glyn and that other notorious Jack Russell, Paul Brotherton at the ISAF worlds in Dubai when we got the news that the Star had been let back in after a short nap outside the Olympic stable.

I was flattered when Glyn asked me to campaign for the Sydney Olympics in 2000. I guess Paul B was too big to crew the Star, so I got the nod!

The RYA was behind us and sports lottery funding was just beginning to take shape, so it looked like we could finally put a good campaign together and really go full time. The last duck Glyn and I had to put in the row was my darling wife, Tracey. I had to convince her that cashing in some joint savings, putting kids off for a few more years and winter training in Miami, while she worked and paid the mortgage back in the cold, was all fine and dandy. I told Glyn that this would be a harder nut to crack. I have a cunning plan he said and came round for a coffee and chat with Tracey.

Before the kettle was even boiled he had asked Tracey if we were planning a family. Knowing the answer already, he announced that now lottery funding was available having a kid and sailing a Star was the way forward. It seemed that the means testing at the time gave a young married, home owning, ankle-biting family the most payout. So, in Glyn’s mind we should have as many children as we could rustle up. It was obvious; more offspring equalled more new sails.

Seeing Tracey wasn’t exactly sold by the concept, I asked Glyn to outline the intended sailing program and overall plan for the coming year. With total focus he began his pitch.

 “I have been offered a drive with the Australian Admirals Cup team that very well paid but clashes with the Star Europeans in Helsinki. We have an obligation to sail this, as it’s our first indication of what lottery funding level we will be on.” Glyn stood up and started to examine some peeling wallpaper in the corner of the room. “Fact 1, Helsinki is bloody miles away and will cost a bomb to get to. Fact 2, if I sail with the Ozzie’s we will be better off, because I’ll put that money into the new Star. Fact 3, we need a good excuse NOT to go to Helsinki.”

Without any change of pace Glyn looked straight at Tracey and said "whaen are you next due?"

Too stunned to question back, Tracey murmured a date. Glyn reached into his pocket and took out a red pen. He picked up Tracey’s diary and put a small dot at the date. Then flicking back from the fateful Star Europeans, faster than most midwives could bang out a due date, he issued a neat red cross on a Tuesday in autumn. He had worked out Tracey’s ovulation and ideal conception dates all in a blink of an eye.

Looking up and pushing the diary across the table he calmly said. “You do the bis then, and you’ll be having the baby smack bang during the Euros. What better justification do we need? Tracey has a baby, I get the funds for a new boat, and Mark, you get to go sailing and we’re all happy. Next stop Sydney.”

Such was his mad-caped confidence we gave it a bash, as Glyn had dictated. As if blessed by fate for his plan, Tracey fell pregnant exactly to on time. Sadly, Glyn never met Emily Covell who was born in the summer of 1999 but he did know she was on the way.

To me that story personifies Glyn Charles. He had no dividing line between life and sailing, to him life was sailing and everything was on a path to sailing, success, work and play.

I was very lucky to know him and sail with him……….."

Miles Amin - former bowman United Airlines

"When I think about Glyn the first thought that comes to mind is the huge opportunity he handed me when I sailed with him on GBE during the ‘93 Admirals Cup – he opened the door to so much for me and many others. My memories of the Ultra circuit are without doubt the best sailing memories I have – what a laugh!
 
Many stories come to mind, most not printable – rolling his car after go kart racing, Glyn’s famous Cosack dancing – hopeless!, falling of a Marquee roof at a wedding party and busting his ankle the day before an Ultra regatta and of course his many dented saucepans and headless wooden spoons from drumming to the cricket theme music at his dinner parties!!!!"

John Derbyshire, RYA Racing Manager

"Glyn was always ready to help his friends.  On many occasions whilst out mountain biking in the South Downs, many of us have watched Glyn cycle to the top of the hill, notice that he was quite far ahead of the pack, turn round, come back and put a helping hand on your back to push you to the top! 

Sometimes though, his ability to do things better than everyone else could go a a little bit far.   I remember was doing mainsheet and tactics for him at the J24 Worlds in Dunlaoghire.  We rounded the windward mark first, but at the first gybe, our bowman was struggling badly with the pole.  From behind me I heard something on the lines of “oh for goodness sake….take this” and next thing saw Glyn’s feet leap past my head.   By the time I’d realised I was steering, Glyn was on his way back from the foredeck having gybed the pole.  We skidded to second as a result of that gybe, and the next day, had the added embarrassment of a front page news picture, of a J24 in 15 knots of breeze, with apparently two bowman at the gybe mark!"

Mike Budd

"I always new Glyn as “Tally”.  The word Tally was written on both sides of his Laser centreboard and his boom as he got DSQ'd one race in a Europa cup regatta for forgetting it.   A German lad (I think it was Wouter Deutz) thought Tally was his name and started calling him 'Tally' and it stuck.

The first time I sailed against Glyn was a Laser open at Hayling in 1984 - I'd been out of the class for four years and didn't know any of the new faces but was exited about making a comeback and giving the youngsters a sailing lesson.

Glyn was one of the 'Solent all stars' as they called themselves along with Paul Lovesey, Lawrence Crispin, Dave Nicholls and Mike Riley. The first race started in about 22 knots and large waves (my weather). I picked a spot on the line immediately above an obvious marshmallow that I could easily roll - A young lad with shorts and very skinny bandy legs and the biggest most ridiculous looking home made weight jacket that was clearly going to dislocate his knees as soon as he leant out. (He also had a home made tiller extension, made from an old ski pole). There was a general recall but I'd sailed enough of the beat to realise that my marshmallow (Tally) was pulling out half a boat length on each wave despite his brown corduroy weight jacket!!!.  

I gave away a bit of the bias on the restart and kept well away from the solent all stars as my fragile ego wouldn't be able to stand any more.

One of the enduring bits of sailing advise he gave me was reprinted in Paula Irish's Y&Y article last year 'Bare poles are faster than an over-sheeted sail' (referring to his Laser)"

Mark Rushall

"As a sailor, Glyn taught me many habits which made me a better sailor, and a much better coach. One of the enduring messages he had was to sail the boat around the crew, not to try to do it the other way round. Whether it was two sail gybing the Ultra 30 through a small gap between Russell Peters’ and Lawrie Smith’s boats at the last leeward mark in 25 knots to win the event, or rounding the leeward mark in a 40 footer in the Commodores Cup, surrounded by other teams shouting at themselves and their competitors, Glyn would do everything possible to make the crew’s job easy, and rarely draw attention to a mistake except to help put it right or come up with a way of preventing it happen again.

One of the reasons that Glyn always seemed to be able to sail the boat around his crew, was that he could turn his hand to any job on the boat. (see story from John Derbyshire!)

I always felt that his philosophy was to create a team he could trust, and have fun with, rather than a ship full or self-interested rock stars. The result was always a happy team, which was bigger and better than the individuals, and usually successful. It was always an honour to be asked to sail on one of Glyn’s boats.

Glyn never gave up, and always looked for alternative solutions to both sailing and non sailing problems. When, for a short period, the Star was dropped as an Olympic class in favour of keelboat match racing, he had no choice to return to the match racing.

To short cut getting match racing hours on the water, he bought two old Lasers, and we built extra small rigs to minimise any physical advantages. We also tied the tillers to restrict their movement to simulate a keelboat’s manoeuvrability. I’ll never forget the first training session at Emsworth: as a team racer, I was determined not to be intimidated by Glyn’s match racing reputation. We entered the race area, port and starboard, and I aimed straight for his bow. At the last possible moment, we both went into the classic match racing dial up, but we had limited the rudder movement too much: we hit bow to bow with much splintering fibre glass and even more laughter.

Glyn was always ready to challenge and authority if he felt that it was misdirected. These anarchistic leanings probably came from his father: there is one story of the pair of them water skiing in Glyn’s beloved Chichester harbour. In those days the harbour master was a part time employee. Glyn was in the speedboat. “Mr Charles, you are not allowed to waterski in the harbour” was his polite opening line.

“You’re our butcher, aren’t you?” was the repost from Charles senior.

“That’s right, Mr Charles”.

“Lets go, Glyn!”"

Liz Rushall

"There’s many more, but I thought I better stop here.  Apart from one Tracey reminded me of today.

Glyn would often turn up at our house, after sailing, or if Annie was away.  He had an instinct for timing because supper was invariably cooking or being got ready.  He’d wander around chatting, taking the lids off the saucepans and having a little look at what was for tea.  And before you knew it, we were serving up for three.  Sometimes, he’d just arrive and get his plate out, which we loved and often laughed about.  We thought it was just something he did with us, until after he died and we were swapping stories.  He was just the same with the Covells, the Acres and many of our other friends around the village.   It’s one of my fondest memories of him - and I can still see him coming through the back gate, full of life, his latest escapades  and ready for dinner."