Staveley Roberts

Born: January 29, 1920;

Died: January 7, 2015

Staveley Roberts, who has died aged 94, was a yachtsman and international sailing judge whose career on the water began as a youth on the Clyde.

It took him from a teenager crewing in the Scottish Islands Class to veteran juror, the highlight of his judging career being chair of the International Jury on some legs of the Whitbread Round The World races, an honour only afforded to the elite of sailing's international judges.

He was inspired to become more heavily involved in the administration of fair sailing after serving on the jury for the Soling European and UK championships at his home yacht club, the Royal Northern and Clyde, in the 1970s. A great influence on his decision was his house guest at the time, Gerald Sambrooke-Sturgess who had helped to draw up the first set of international sailing rules.

From then on he served yachting with integrity, his sharp mind determined to arrive at a decision based strictly on the evidence presented and rules applying - walking something of a tightrope, as he once described it, between that and the recognition that the reputations of leading professionals were at stake, not to mention the millions of dollars of sponsorship involved.

His attitude and approach were much admired throughout a distinguished career that saw him receive one of the rare honours bestowed by the sport when he was appointed Royal Yachting Association (RYA) Judge Emeritus.

Born Owen Sydney Staveley Roberts in Kilcreggan, Argyle and Bute, he was one of two sons of Henry Staveley Roberts, a chartered accountant with his own business in Glasgow, and his wife Gwendoline. His brother Arnold was also an avid and renowned yachtsman and together the boys were a formidable team.

Educated at Greenock Academy, Staveley Roberts took an aeronautical engineering degree at Loughborough College in Leicestershire before joining the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve as a lieutenant commander in 1944. He served on the Fort Colville, a Royal Fleet Auxiliary Air Store Ship, and arrived in Hong Kong in September 1945 just after the Japanese surrender to Rear Admiral Harcourt. His primary role from then until March 1946 was to co-ordinate the repatriation of civilian prisoners of war from the Stanley internment camp where they had been held since the fall of the colony to the Japanese.

His vessel was eventually based out of Sydney, Australia, where he married his wife Marjory. They both returned to Scotland, to Kilcreggan, in 1946 and Mr Roberts subsequently worked in engineering. He began with Singer in Clydebank and later worked for Glenfield & Kennedy Ltd, Kilmarnock and Weir Construction, in a career that mainly related to the manufacture of valves and sluice gates for hydro-electric plants and dams in Scotland, Africa, Hong Kong and Australia.

Having begun sailing on the River Clyde, he had joined the Royal Clyde Yacht Club in 1942, and served as commodore when the club merged with the Royal Northern Yacht Club and subsequently served as commodore of the merged club, the Royal Northern & Clyde YC. He became a founder member and commodore of the Cove and Kilcreggan Yacht Club, now known as the Cove Sailing Club, in the early 1950s, where he raced in wooden keel boats, Loch Longs. He also raced and owned Flying Fifteen and Dragon class yachts in a sailing career that spanned more than 70 years.

After that decision, prompted by Sambrooke-Sturgess's stay, to become more involved in judging the sport he became one of the International Yacht Racing Union's first international judges, serving on juries around the world, including the China Sea series in 1980 and the Maxi racing at the Kenwood Cup in Hawaii in 1986.

He was a founding member in 1987 of the RYA's national judges' sub-committee and served as its chairman from 1992-99. He also chaired the RYA in Scotland and twice served four-year terms on the main RYA Council.

During the Whitbread Round The World race of 1993-94, he was parachuted in to chair a new jury after all but one of the original jury resigned following controversy over their decisions. It was something of a baptism of fire. In addition he chaired both the international jury for the Admiral's Cup in 1995 and the Swan European Championship for several years and had been on the jury at Scotland's biggest annual event, the Tomatin or Scottish Series, for 14 consecutive years.

Mr Roberts, who was made an MBE for his immense services to sailing in the 2000 New Year honours, was also an honorary member of the Mudhook and Royal Gourock Yacht Clubs and a past president of the Flying Fifteen Class Association. He retired as an international judge in 2007 when his last event was the 8 Metre World Championships, run on the Clyde by his mother club.

He is survived by his wife, son Leigh and daughter-in-law Veronica, grandchildren Jason and Jamie and great-granddaughter Samantha. A private funeral will be followed by a memorial service at Rhu in the spring.

ALISON SHAW