David Rudd

Thanks to these varied spheres of interest, it was inevitable that he should have been widely known. He loved sailing, and had a life-long association with the RYYC, first sailing with the club when he was a small boy with his father Wilfred who was managing director of the family business off Hessle Road, in the heartland of the city's fishing industry.

After his father's premature death at the age of 44, Mr Rudd had to give up his childhood dream of joining the Royal Navy, and instead became involved in running the family business.

With his mother, Catherine, he built it up, providing cigarettes, newspapers and magazines for the trawler fleets sailing to the fishing grounds off Iceland, Norway and Russia.

WE Rudd also provided cigarettes for public houses in the East Riding, and in due course, in other parts of the country.

Although the business was growing – and with it, demands on his time – Mr Rudd's passion for sailing never dimished, and every year he matched his skills against the world's top skippers at Cowes Week. In spite of undergoing major surgery for cancer, he rallied for what was to be the final highlight of his sailing career.

He accepted an invitation from his friend Hugh James to act as helmsman on Hugh's boat for the popular TV series Rivers with Griff Rhys Jones, exploring Britain's waterways.

Hugh James said of him: "Every time I watched him at the helm was like having a master class."

Mr Rudd gave a cheery wave to the cameras as he brought the yacht down the Humber, but it was to be his last trip, his death a heavy blow to his many friends at the RYYC.

Mt Rudd is survived by his wife Jean, their son Andrew and daughter Jean, and four grandchildren.