8 bells John McLaughlin

John McLaughlin passed away today after a long fought battle with cancer. John was a fixture in the beachcat community on the Chesapeake Bay and distance races on the East Coast. He was my sailing mentor and a great friend. He was truly the nicest person I ever had the opportunity of knowing.Always with a huge smile on his face. His introduction of spinnaker rigged beachcats and the Worrell 1000 to me, changed my life. There is a huge hole in the beachcat community tonight. Godspeed my friend.

O God, your fondest feelings must be reserved for the least pretentious and most genuine of us. Sailors must be your favorites. Some of us haven't found the virtues of humility, soft spoken or gentleness. Some of us tend to lead with our jaw and seem more ready to fight than switch. After long days at sea, you can tell your sailors by their red eyes and grubbiness, but their wills match their strong backs, and their respect and concern for each other is a wondrous thing. They are the salt of the deck - and their saltiness is honest and open. We are grateful for them as you love them especially, bless each one, we ask this in your name. Amen.

A Prayer for Sailors - USN Chaplain Corps

I remember meeting John at the Worrell events and he was super nice and always had that smile on his face. I was glad I had the pleasure to meet him and spend some time with him.

John was a fine sailor and great guy. Condolences to his family and friends.

John was a fine sailor and great guy. Condolences to his family and friends.

Fair winds, John.

Really good guy and one of the first friends we made when we joined the multihull community. He will be missed.

The local beach cat sailors have elected to name the Annapolis to Oxford race, or at least our fleets portion of it, in his honor. John will surely be proud looking down on a big fleet of cats in next years race.

John was a die-hard sailor, mentor and friend. He fought a long battle and was on the water as much as possible through it all. His family is in our prayers.

I met him when he came down to Gulfport to race in the F16 N/A's a few years back, he was sailing Uni and constantly kicking my butt! I remember thinking, "This old guy is pretty good, maybe I should just follow him!"

I got to talk to him on the beach afterwards, he was laughing and smiling, while telling me how he did it! A really great guy.

Fair winds John.

John McLaughlin, also known to a lot of us as “Hollywood” for his TV-star smile, was a great sailor and friend and he will be deeply missed. John was always willing to teach someone new to sailing the ropes and encouraged them to get better. That’s what he did for me and I was fortunate to able to sail with him in some of the best distance races of the day from the Down the Bay race to the Worrell 1000. He always had a huge smile, even in the worst weather. In fact, I really think the harder it blew, the bigger his smile got. And when it was over he would say “that was some kick butt sailing”. Nancy and his family have our deepest condolences.

I will miss you my friend sail fast.

I met John in July 1986 when I went to my first Hobie Fleet 54 'Club Race'/Picnic ... John's first 'Distance' race was the Inaugural New England 100 from New London Conn to New Bedford Mass, that John, Scott Bunting and I did, using my H18Mag ... after that John caught the 'distance' bug and was a fixture at the 'Down-the-Bays' on his H-16. One year he showed up w/ a can of 'Marine-tex' to try and fix a bottom repair job that was starting to leak again ... I looked at his H16 as it sat upside down on the beach at Sandy Point and started to poke at the delaminating fiberglass w/ a 2" wide wood chisel ... and then I just pealed away a 3-4ft strip of fiberglass ... John looked at me for a moment, took a puff on a 'ciggy', got that sly smile and asked me ... "You caaann fix that Harry??? So, John and I proceeded to put on a new layer of cloth and epoxy right there on the beach ... John & Lee made the start the next morning ...

John was famous for his single-handed sails to various regatta sights around the bay ... and I met him many a time at some beach, long after dark when he would come 'ghosting' in on the evening breeze,(it got to be, that I could just sense when he was near) ... "Hi John" ... "Harry, what are you doing here???" ... "Waiting on you John ..." and then John would give me that laugh ... the last time was just a few years ago when he sailed from WRSC to RHYC only to finally become becalmed 200-300yds off of RHYC ... I grabbed a 8'dingy off the dingy-rack that had oars and rowwed out to him ... "Hi John, the wind kind of died ... do you want to wait for the breeze ... or can I tow you in???" I think that is the only 'tow' John ever took ...

John ... you have sailed to a beach that I can not meet you at ... but hopefully, "Good Lord Willing", someday I will sail up to that beach and you can meet me ... w/ the 'beach wheels' ...

Till then I'll just have to treasure my memories of one of my best friends ... who was one of the finest people to ever be on this earth ...

Harry Murphey
Hobie Fleet54/ H-18#9458
CRAC P-19MX w/spin

I met John during my first Worrell and saw him again not too long ago at West River. He was singlehanding the F16 and having a great time with that same smile. I'll see you again during a distance race in the sky my friend.

The movie Forrest Gump had it all wrong...

The Smiley Guy Iconic Symbol was fashioned after the likeness of John McLaughlin - there are just no two ways about it.

John, you will be missed! To his family, we mourn your loss and pray for peace for you at this time.

John's service will be at ...

St John's Episcopal Church
9120 Frederick Rd
Ellicott City Md 21042

The church will open at 10am ... w/ the service starting at 11am ... reception to following at the church school ...

For those of you that can not attend ... SMILE and go for a sail for John ... and you will be w/ us ....

also ... there will be a "On-the-Water" Memorial Service before the 1st Race at the Rock Hall YC Hobie Points Regatta on Sat, Sept 28th on the Chester River ... Please bring 'Fresh-Cut Flowers' ....


Harry
Fleet54/H-18 #9458
CRAC/P-19MX #86
Member: RHYC

I was asked "how many sailors were coming to the service for John?" ... my reply was that the beach cat ol'Guard was coming, people that you only hear about in stories from the 70's, 80's and 90's ...

St John's Episcopal Church was full, and I saw fellow friends and sailors that I haven't seen for years as we have all been busy living our lives ... sailors from the Hobie Class, from the A-Cat Class, from the 'Open' class, from the F-16 class, sailors that race around the buoys, and sailors that race in distance races such as the 'Down the Bay, Worrell 1000 and 'the Tybe'. Names such as Jim Glanden, Wally Myers, John Flannigan, Todd Hart, Charles Thuman, Mark Schnieder, Bobby Knowles, Dan Flannigan, Chris Ford, Scott Bunting, Ron Laporta, Roger Holmes and too many more to list here ...

It was a very nice service ... and then at the luncheon we told stories about John and shared our memories ...

Harry