8 Bells  – John Muir:  A Sailor’s Sailor with a World Class Grin

Apr 24, 2025

By John Morris

We all knew John. And by ‘we’ I mean pretty much anyone who raced around Toronto or Georgian Bay or the Caribbean or Florida or in a special needs regattas anywhere. Ask anyone in the J24 or Melges fleet, at ABYC, RCYC, PCYC, etc etc and they could identify him as a skilled sailor with a wry smile and crazy sense of humour.  He arrived ready for anything, everywhere; usually either at the front of the fleet or helping the crews in the middle of the fleet chase the leaders. I know – he multitasked my T-Bird to finish onto the podium (perhaps surprisingly) in the Thunderbird Worlds here in 2001. No matter what the occasion or lack of one, John always showed up in a contagious good mood, to paint the hull, to do foredeck in a key race, to make you feel ok after a DFL.

Quoting from his obit: A competitive swimmer in his youth, John’s lifelong passion was sailing. Trapezing off the side of a Flying Dutchman screaming along on a broad reach; shimming up the mast of an International Eight Metre in a squall to clear a spinnaker; knowing what to do, and successfully getting it done, when a 54-footer started going down off the coast of North Carolina after its hull cracked open from bouncing off the ocean floor in a ‘double trough wave’; captaining the boat guiding his sister as she swims across Lake Ontario. If you were on an open body of water, particularly in challenging conditions, you wanted John by your side.

In the early 1970s, John secured the Canadian rights to sell Windsurfers. Within a few years he was selling more Windsurfers per capita in Canada than were being sold almost anywhere else in the world. In 1977, John hosted the North American Windsurfer championships with races held on Georgian Bay.

Over the last few decades, John developed many friendships in the US. John was particularly proud of work he did with organizations to help people with disabilities and disadvantaged children experience the joy of sailing, including American Disabilities Foundation, Inc., Winterfest Boat Parade, Marine Corps Toys for Tots, and Grace Center Street Art Regatta.

To honour John Muir, brother, uncle and friend, the whole fleet of his pals and family will gather on Sunday, May 4  3:00PM – 7:00PM EDT at  Boxcar Social Harbourfront  235 Queens Quay W  Toronto, ON M5J 2G8 .    “Dress as you would to see John ”