Whilst an apprentice at Smiths Industries, Roy learnt to sail Fireflies single handed at the Welsh Harp and so his passion for sailing and racing dinghies began. He joined Cookham Reach in 1966 and remained a member for the rest of his life. Racing OK dinghies at Cookham, Roy soon became a force to be reckoned with. He mainly competed on the river but travelled to local open meetings and took part in team racing between clubs. Roy’s first OK, sail number either 89 or 98, next 868 Flower Power, complete with flower stickers on the hull, the next and most successful, 1214 Catherine the Great. He was a very competitive sailor and developed an expert ability to roll tack. This was often mistaken by others as a means of propulsion slightly outside of the rules but of great benefit for river sailing – hence the nickname he gained of Rocking Roy Reuter. A skill admired and later to be copied by many others, some of whom may be reading this.

Roy would always launch his OK from the jetty bow first, sail up without the rudder, then jump in and put the rudder on whilst his momentum took him into the middle of the river – oh how those on the bank laughed when he miss timed his jump and landed straight in the river with his boat drifting off!

Family holidays were at Salcombe every year from 1969 for sailing in Salcombe Yacht Club Regatta followed by the Town Regatta. The pinnacle was in the early 1970s when Roy won the Yacht Club Regatta for the first and only time. Trips to Salcombe continued with the annual Merlin week, only ceasing when the number of times Nick had to haul him back in the boat became too much.

He moved from OKs to Merlin Rockets. He owned a number of Merlins, both modern and vintage.

2070 Simplicity
3072 Sweet Charity
3074 Passing Wind
3451 Deep Thought
3585 After Hours
3570 Second Thought
862 Will o’ the Wisp
955 Amatol

He really enjoyed introducing new crews to the joy of dinghy racing. Many went on to become really good helms in their own right.

It was during his Merlin racing at Cookham that the sailing report over the Sunday family meal would always start with, “Well, I was first to the first mark” there then followed a list of reasons why his lead was not maintained. This has clearly rubbed off on Nick.

One of his crews, Carol, recalls how competitive he was, which was evident by her collection of wine glass prizes. Not only were they trying to win though, they had to look good doing it; on one occasion Carol was told to re-tie the jib sheets as they looked untidy!

Many have fond memories of the time Roy and Margaret spent at the sailing club and in particular Roy’s love of flamboyant blazers and social events. He was always willing to help new or old members either practically or with his font of sailing knowledge. He held many positions within the club including two stints as Vice-commodore and then the role of Commodore 2010 – 2012. He was very proud when Nick followed in his footsteps ten years later.