Goodbye Syd Fischer. Man of a thousand boats, Australian sailing legend

Just a week shy of his 96th birthday, Syd Fischer, a true icon of Australian sailing, owner of the famous Ragamuffins and star of the most prestigious international regattas, including the America’s Cup, passed away.

Goodbye Syd Sicher

Syd Fischer, businessman and true Australian sailing legend, died last Feb. 23 at the age of 95. In his long sporting career he has won some of the most prestigious international regattas, taken part in no less than five America’s Cup campaigns and collected a long list of sailing awards. In short, a sporting icon that for more than three decades has inspired and launched hundreds of sailors, including a number of outstanding sailors such as Jimmy Spithill, Iain Murray, and Hugh Treharne.

Syd Fischer, from poor Sydney suburbia to world sailing

Born March 4, 1927, Fischer had grown up in a tough working-class suburb of Sydney during the Great Depression. His father was often unemployed, and his mother died of pneumonia when he was only 11 years old. After leaving school at age 14, Syd began an apprenticeship as a carpenter. But being an outspoken, stubborn and ambitious young man, he set up his own business first as a builder and then as a real estate developer. By the end of the 1950s he had become a millionaire.

Syd Fischer’s Ragamuffins star in the Sydney-Hobart

After excelling in many sports, including swimming, boxing, soccer and tennis, Fischer discovered sailing at the age of 33. A deep passion that he would never leave. He began his sailing career by taking part in the 1962 Sydney-Hobart race at the helm of his first offshore boat, Malohi, with which he won fifth place overall. He developed such a strong bond with this regatta that he ended up taking part in 42 editions, aboard different boats all named Ragamuffin. So much so that that name became synonymous with Fischer and inspired years later “Ragamuffin Man: The World of Syd Fischer,” the book dedicated to his life written in 2016 by David Salter.

The term “ragamuffin” in Jamaican culture means “rough, beggar, good-for-nothing, disorderly,” and Fischer’s own strong sense of humor was expressed in the choice of that name for his boats. Three of his victories at Sydney-Hobart: first place in real time in 1988 and 1990 and first place overall in 1992. He last participated in the regatta at age 88 in 2015 aboard a 100-foot supermaxi that now races under the name Scallywag.

Challenge lover and record-holder in America’s Cup

But Syd Fischer also participated in eight Admiral’s Cups, won the 1971 Fastnet Race, the 1971 One Ton Cup World Championship in New Zealand, and the 1980 Round State Race in Hawaii. He also, along with Sir Thomas Lipton, holds the record for the most America’s Cup campaigns, all self-financed and personally managed. As a result of these achievements, Syd Fischer was twice named Australian Sailor of the Year in 1971-72 and 1992-93, and in 2018 he was inducted into the America’s Cup, Australian Sailing and Cruising Yacht Club of Australia Hall of Fame.

Demanding and impetuous, a true Australian doc

In recent years his sense of balance had diminished, preventing him from being as active on the boat as he would have liked. So in 2016 he had decided to retire from competition. Members of his crews, colleagues, and friends say Syd Fischer could be forceful, demanding, impatient, impetuous, suspicious, aggressive, disrespectful of authority, reserved, and sometimes even overbearing. But he was also extremely generous and good company, as well as a loving father and grandfather.

His longtime friend Sir James Hardy said, “Syd Fischer is simply an old-fashioned Australian with the cards. And you can’t help but appreciate him for that.”