VALE Marcus (“Marc”) Randell

The AIA is saddened to share that Queensland Impulse class legend Marcus (Marc) Randell passed away peacefully early this week after battling aprogressive illness.

Marc made an indelible contribution to the Impulse class and Australian sailing through the contagious energy he invested into building classes and clubs.

Marc first took to the sport of sailing as a 40’ish year old man with a young family, and seeking to engage himself and children in something new. Barely after graduating from learn-to-sail classes at Oxley Sailing Club in Brisbane, he voyaged to Hervey Bay in 1989 to compete in the Mirror class national titles, meeting the likes of Tom King who narrowly won the regatta and ten years later became an Olympic gold medallist.

Back home on the coiled brown snake in Brisbane, the tidal treadmill at Oxley, Marc would regale our young Mirror sailors with stories of the Hervey Bay experience:

“Tom’s boat, it was black glass! The finish was fantastic! Better than a Mercedes! You just had to see it. You’d see Tom whip around marks, and the wake left behind was like glass too. Even gybing in 30 knots!” - Inspiring stories for aspiring child sailors to get swept up in.

Marc’s formidable capacity to enthuse those around him had helped deliver the Mirror class in Queensland from the brink of oblivion to a force to be reckoned with. He served as class President for close to a decade, sailing in the most-part with daughter Angie; the pair alternating as skipper and crew.

In the early-mid 2000’s, Marc followed his son Luke’s footsteps into the Impulse class which had recently grown a small but dedicated fleet at Oxley. The same passion he brought to the development of Mirror sailing in Queensland was suddenly tripled as he rallied one and all around his new favourite class! In 2004, Marc and Luke flew the Queensland flag at the Impulse national titles in Lake Munmorah (NSW), a regatta featuring all the heavy hitters and contested in big breezes. Again, the excitement he shared and generated on return to Oxley was utterly infectious.

With Marc’s involvement, interest in the Impulse class in Queensland took off. In the months following Lake Munmorah, Marc led on establishing an Impulse class association for the very first time in Queensland. With this mission accomplished, Impulse sailing’s newest state president approached the other states calling for Queensland to be added to the rotation as host-state for national title events. The other states generously obliged, with Queensland offered a near immediate spot in the hosting cycle. The first Queensland Impulse state titles was contested in October 2005 attracting 12 entrants. At the 2005 national titles in Lake Bonney (SA), Marc proudly presented to all sailors the vision for Queensland’s inaugural hosting of the Impulse nationals the next year. In 2006, Marc helped bolster the knowledge and skill-base of Queensland Impulse sailors, recruiting the likes of Bob Foster and Glenn Bond who each delivered highly informative training clinics – Bob’s clinic focussed on DIY Impulse boat-building, and Glenn’s focussed on performance on the water. Bob’s session in particular spawned a flurry of boat building activity, and the class grew rapidly. The 2006 Impulse national titles was hosted at Royal Queensland Yacht Squadron, and was an enormous success for an association that only 18 months beforehand did not yet exist. Marc remained President of the class in Queensland for many years to come, including other stints as President of the National Executive on years Queensland was to host the national titles.

Marc was a very good sailor (especially in the lighter stuff), a talented boat builder and renovator of boats, and a peerless mobilizer of people in the pursuit of making big things happen. But above all, he was just a fantastic bloke: kind, big-hearted, humorous, highly generous with his time and wisdom, a tireless volunteer, strong leader, and always on the look-out to help and encourage fellow sailors, especially those in the early stages of their sailing careers.

Safe travels, Marc. May “banging the corners” pay big dividends to you each and every time in sailing heaven.