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Maine Sailing Legend Passes
February 23rd, 2009 by CarterA long time Casco Bay racing scene fixture passed away last week. See the Obituary below. George sailed a memerable J24 named Trick or Treat. Often with a black cat or other holloween type image on the spinnaker, you could see george leading the very competitive and large local J24 Fleet 43. The season trophy for best performance of a Fleet 43 boat is named for George as his legend of competing lives on.
Recently I was going through some race results from Portland Yacht Club in Falmouth, Maine and noticed that George at the young age of 80 won the PYC Lightship race. The race is a twenty plus mile all day race from Clapboard Island to the location of the lightship buoy and back. Often the race produces a wonderful long windward beat and a long and fun downwind sled ride.
George Tonini PORTLAND — George Tonini born in Trieste, Italy, Dec. 20, 1922, passed away Feb. 19, 2009. George was a Merchant Marine and trained on the Italian navy ship Amerigo Vespucci. During WWII he was an Ensign and while cooperating with the U.S., he served in The Royal Italian Navy as navigator on the Italian submarine Goffredo Mameli.
He was stationed in many different places, but the most interesting was Great Diamond Island in Casco Bay. He also worked as a dispatcher and translator at the American Motor Pool for the Allied Military Government in Trieste, Italy.
He settled in Maine, married and worked the rest of his life as a Chef and Caterer in several different capacities. (If you were one of the lucky ones you would have tasted his food). He was a member of the Portland yacht Club since 1964, he taught many people how to sail, and was an avid J/24 racer until the ripe age of eighty.
There was so much more to his life then we can put into words. He loved life, the ocean, sailing, dancing, cooking, playing poker, fishing, the Caribbean, and most of all, his wife Dorothy of 50 years. He was loving, vibrant, flirty, energetic and cute. We will miss him dearly.
He is survived by his wife, Dorothy Tonini of Cumberland; daughter Juliana Tonini of Windham, son Daniel Tonini of Portland; along with his granddaughter, Aria Tonini of Alfred; daughters Adele Harnois of Portland and Linda Beck of Gorham, sons Eric Tonini of Ft. Myers, Fla., and Giorgio Tonini of Trieste, Italy. He has five grand children.
A memorial service will be held at 11 a.m. on Friday, Feb. 27, 2009, at the memorial Chapel of Independent Death Care, 471 Deering Ave., Portland.
Memories may be shared, condolences expressed and a guest book signed at the obituary page at www.independentdeathcare.com
Donations may be made to: American Stroke Association 51 U.S. Route 1 Scarborough, Maine 04074 or Animal Refuge League 449 Stroudwater St. Westbrook, Maine 04092 George Tonini
February 23rd, 2009 at 3:07 pm
I had the privilege of being aboard “Trick or Treat” when we won the Lightship Race and the Moore Trophy. George was extremely proud of that accomplishment.
It was a cold and foggy day with a steady southerly breeze. There had been a storm the day before and we were confronted by sizable rollers. With no Loran or GPS on board we also had to worry about navigation. I remember Goerge saying “The first one to spot the mark gets a shot of rum”, as only George could say it. It wasn’t difficult because he had put us right on the layline. We rounded the mark, popped the chute, and surfed for twelve miles. The whole time George was directing us to pump the sails and shift our weight. We never had time for the rum at the rounding but we all enjoyed a shot as we sailed in from the finish line knowing we had done well.
George was a great sailor, a friend, and a mentor. He will be sorely missed.