Obituary: Famous sailor Stuart Jardine whose winning form spanned eight decades and included two Olympics dies at age of 90
RENOWNED Lymington sailor and Olympian Stuart Jardine, whose winning form spanned 80 years, has died at the age of 90.
Lieutenant Stuart Jardine OBE won championships over a “remarkable” eight decades, representing Great Britain at both the 1968 and 1972 Olympics in the Star Class.
Born in Salisbury on the 23rd August 1933, just minutes after his identical twin brother Ado (Adrian), he moved to Basra, Iraq, where his father, Colonel R Jardine, was employed by the Colonial Service.
The twins developed a love of sailing form an early age and, on return to the UK, continued in the sport. They became known as “formidable” opponents in Fireflys where they dominated the class in the 1950s.
In 1955, after leaving Sandhurst military academy, Stuart joined the Royal Engineers. During service with them he witnessed the atomic bomb testing on Christmas Island in the Pacific, before postings in Germany and Singapore.
He still managed to enjoy sailing competing in top events including finishing second in the Flying Dutchman UK Championship, and was selected as reserve for the 1960 Rome Olympics.
Stuart went on to win the Flying Dutchman UK Championship in 1961, ’62, ’64 and ’65.
He represented Great Britain at the 1968 Olympics in Mexico, finishing 10th with his crew. At the 1972 Munich Olympics he came 7th.
Stuart married wife Mary-Ann in 1962 with whom he had three sons: Lewis, Robert, and Mark. The couple also had five grandchildren, Jamie, Arabella, Sean, Sam and Philippa.
After retiring from the army, Stuart returned to sailing with his brother Ado in the J24 Class. The twins even won the European Championships in 1995 at the age of 62.
Stuart also won the Captain’s Cup at Cowes Week seven times in XOD Class after first winning it in 1956.
His sons Robert and Mark became crew members for their father.
Stuart won his final major championship in the XOD at the 2018 Royal Solent Yacht Club's Tattinger Regatta at the age of 84.
He was always keen to help others, say his family and friends, and he wanted to ensure others got the most from their sailing – especially youngsters.
Initially, he helped young sailors at Keyhaven before becoming a regular volunteer at the annual Junior Regatta at the Royal Lymington Yacht Club, where he took charge of the Scow fleet and especially the Optimists.
He also ran the annual Peter Andreae Trophy at Lymington Yacht Club and the Setley Pond Cup for model boats.
Sadly, over the past few years he had become “gradually weaker” and an attack of shingles led to him being admitted to Belmore Lodge Care Home where he received “excellent care”.
Wife Mary-Ann would visit with family daily.
After a severe attack of pneumonia, he was admitted to Lymington hospital, where he again received first class treatment but was unable to recover due to his age and an underlying heart condition.
His family said he will be “greatly missed”.
