TALL SHIPS DESIGNER DIES
HOMENEWSBOATBUILDINGBOATBUILDINGTALL SHIPS DESIGNER DIES
04 May 2020
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Colin Mudie RDI Photo: Advertiser & Times
Tributes are being paid to Colin Mudie RDI, yacht and tall ships designer, balloonist, author and inclusive-sailing advocate, who died in March aged 93.
Contemporary of Edmund Hilary and Donald Campbell, whom he knew, Colin forged his reputation as an adventurer, supporting sail-training and charities, particularly those dedicated to disabled sailors, whilst designing some of the world’s most memorable tall ships.
“He will be remembered by the international tall ships family with great fondness and his legacy will be with us for many decades to come,” said Paul Bishop, head of race directorate at Sail Training International.
Born in Edinburgh in 1926, Colin studied engineering at Southampton University before serving his design apprenticeship at the British Power Boat Company in Southampton. After working for designers Laurent Giles and Partners in Lymington, he set up his own firm.
Atlantic adventures
Colin successfully completed a 1952 Atlantic crossing in the 19ft Sopranino without radio or engine and in 1958 attempted to cross the Atlantic again, this time in a hydrogen balloon.
“After 94 hours the balloon crash landed but dad had designed the gondola as a boat and he took command and they sailed 1,500 miles to Barbardos, arriving two weeks later,” said his son, Max.
It was perhaps as a designer of tall ships that Colin was best known. In 1971 he won a Lloyd’s Register Award for Royalist, a 23m sailing training brig for the British Sea Cadet Corps and designed a number of other tall ships throughout the 1980s including the 43m barque STS Lord Nelson.
Colin’s charitable involvements included the RNLI, of which is was a life vice-president and part of his local crew in Lymington. He was also involved in the Jubilee Sailing Trust whose mission is to give everyone, regardless of ability, the chance to enjoy sailing.