We wanted to share these kind words from our dear friend Danny Casey on the sudden passing of our dear friend and colleague, Gary.
Vale Gary Fyfe
Sometimes there are posts one simply does not want to write - often because the subject matter is contentious, controversial or of marginal interest. This is one post I did not want to have to write, but for none of the aforementioned reasons. I didn't want to write this post, but had to, and needed to, because it is my humble encomium to an outstanding individual and one of the finest, nicest (if that is not a twee, saccharine word) and most principled human beings I have ever had the fortune to meet in all my years in the marine industry - someone who was both a gentleman and a gentle man.
On the evening of Thursday, February 8th, Gary Fyfe, long-standing, outstanding and highly respected member of the management team of Red Bay Boats in Cushendall, N. Ireland, succumbed to an apparent heart attack whilst driving between home and his father's house and died instantly. Gary was two days shy of his 47th birthday, and tragically leaves behind his devoted wife, Clare, and two wonderful children, Eleanor (17) and Alexander (15).
I last saw Gary in late October when he, along with Tom, Alistair and Peter from Red Bay, made the trip to Derry on a bleak winter morning for the funeral of my mother. I was never able to properly tell him how much that meant - and now I will never be able to.
In the marine industry, there are many who can "talk a good game", but Gary didn't only talk the talk; he walked the walk. A superb and meticulous judge and supremely competent, polished driver of any high-speed RIB; he was also helm on the Red Bay Atlantic class lifeboat and coxswain on the all-weather boat, and displayed equal proficiency in a sailboat to boot - keeled or a catamaran with trapeze.
The word "irreplaceable" is often bandied around in a cavalier or trite manner, with few appreciating its actual significance - but, in the case of Gary, and the huge, unfillable void now left among his family and his colleagues, I feel there is no other word remotely capable of describing this terribly cruel, tragic loss. For my part, if there were any way I could circumvent the harsh tyranny of distance and get from Sydney to Cushendall to see Gary laid to rest, I'd be there in a flash - as it is, I shall have to sadly watch proceedings by video-link from the other side of the world.
Just to show the RIB industry - in case it didn't know - who exactly it has lost, I have attached two photos of Gary. The first one was a leisurely and no doubt treasured candid moment with his beloved Clare. The second (Gary holding the mic, alongside Conor McLaughlin) was at the recent launch of the book, "The Redbay Boats Story", and the second
Gary, my friend, it is tragic and unfair, but true, that only the good die young - life is far from fair and you did not deserve this. Fair winds and following seas, old son, and I'll catch you again when it's my turn to come in to dock up there.
