Yesterday I received the sad news that Ted Van Syckel passed away, peacefully and painlessly, last weekend. Many of you knew Ted. You may or may not know that the Rose City Model Sailing Club would not exist without Ted. I first met Ted in 2009 at the Tualatin Crawdad Festival. Ted was at the pond with the Oregon Model Yacht Club promoting RC sailing. Ted had a Footy – a class of boat not formally supported by OMYC – and I took an interest in this little boat as a first step to get into RC sailing. Ted and I started a lifelong friendship that day. He supported and guided me in the building of my own Footy. In the following months I would join Ted at OMYC events And we would sail our Footys off to the side. When OMYC didn’t embrace the new class, Ted had the idea of forming a new club. Ted and I and fellow Footy skipper Greg Lamb applied to AMYC to form RCMSC. The club drew the interest of other Footy skippers and began to grow. Ted built a Micro Magic and brought it to one of our sails – this class quickly caught on with several members and new members building and sailing MM’s, and the class was supported by RCMSC. Next Ted build a Dragon Force 65 – that class ballooned in popularity and was supported by the club as well. When we were approached by T37 skipper Gary Pietka about the possibility of adding that class, Ted supported this wholeheartedly. Needless to say, today’s RCMSC owes its very existence to Ted.
Our friendship continued after our participation in RCMSC waned – even after my move to Canada – and we remained in touch as best friends until the end of his life. Next time you put a boat in the water, please think fondly of Ted Van Syckel.
Stanley Townsend – Past RCMSC Commodore
RCMSC 