At least twenty Finns were about to arrive at the leeward turning mark at a big Finn regatta in Kingston, Ontario.   The wind was blowing 20 knots.  Emotions were running high.  The skipper of the inside boat forgot to lower his centerboard and slid into several outside boats during the chaotic rounding.  It was a mess.  When the event resolved, one boat had escaped the fracas and took the lead; 34-year-old Dick Tillman snaked his Finn through the maze. Soon after, he turned around and smiled at the skipper of the trailing boat that also benefitted from the confusion (sailed by me).  For both of us it was a precious moment.

Dick Tillman grew up sailing on Lake Wawasee in Northern Indiana.  Snipes were the most popular boat on the 3,000-acre lake at the time.  The Tillman family lived in Syracuse, a small town with 1,400 residents in the 1940s when young Dick was growing up.  Tillman graduated from the United States Naval Academy in 1958, and along with several Midshipmen elected to serve in the U.S. Air Force at a time when officers were needed.  He earned a master’s degree in industrial engineering at Texas A&M University (1964). After 21 years of service in the Air Force, he enjoyed an active career as a competitive racing sailor, author and administrator.  One of his sailing attributes and messages to young sailors was to stay physically fit for racing.

At the Naval Academy,  Tillman led his team to two National Championship (1956, 1957).  He won the Finn North Americans (1965), the Snipe Nationals (1959), Laser North Americans (1971, 1972, 1973), Sunfish World Masters (2002), was a member of the U.S. Olympic Sailing Team in 1976, won a Bronze Medal in the Pan American Games (Snipe, 1959) and became a top competitor in windsurfers in his sixties.  He was named US Sailing’s Yachtsman of the Year in 1965.  Tillman sailed with Hall of Fame sailors Lowell North and Vince Brun in the Soling Class Olympic Trials in 1980.  (The USA did not compete in the Games that year due to a boycott over the Russian attack on Afghanistan).

After retiring from the Air Force, he and his wife Linda, managed the J 24 Class for ten years (1981-1991).  Tillman served as Commodore of the International Snipe Class Association (1971) and several years later was named President of the Windsurfing Class Association (1999-2002);  he also served as President of the International Sunfish Class Association (2002-2006) and served on the US Olympic Yachting Committee (1976-1980).

Tillman authored four editions of a book on racing, The Complete Book of Laser Sailing.  He was a popular speaker on racing techniques and coached many aspiring young sailors throughout the USA.   Dick and Linda Tillman have three surviving daughters, Laurie, Libbie and Susan and nine grandchildren.

~Gary Jobson