Horace “Skip” Gray Shaw

Hailed from Sheepshead Bay Yacht Club the waters will not be the same without sailor Horace Gray (Skip) Shaw at the helm. Sailor, Racer, Navigator, Sailmaker, and WWII Naval veteran, Skip Shaw was born on December 4, 1924 in Sheepshead Bay, NY to Horace Smith Shaw and Alma Lauter Shaw. He died October 23, 2015 in Vero Beach, Florida.

Known in yacht clubs up and down the East Coast and Bahamas, sailing small craft and large, throughout his lifetime his passion to win never faded.

Skip raced everything from 12 foot frostbite dinghies on Great South Bay, to class boats � Stars and Thistles, to large racing yachts. He raced to Bermuda, in Trans-Atlantic races, and many more in New York, Florida and the Bahamas, amassing an impressive array of trophies. He then cruised the Caribbean with his wife Midge. When Skip retired from ocean sailing he decided to take up remote control sailing. Skip’s last sailboat race was just a few months ago in the spring of 2015. Many will remember his boats named KEPECOCA after his children at the time: Kerry, Peggy, Connie, Candace. He was so proud of that name and his family.

Skip joined the Navy at the beginning of World War II, and was decorated for his service in the Atlantic Theatre which included driving a landing craft to Omaha Beach on D-Day. He left the Navy as a Quartermaster on the USS Midway.

He began his career as a sailmaker for Hard Sails in Islip, NY, established Torrey, Huntington and Shaw Sailmakers in Oyster Bay, NY and later opened up Mack-Shaw Sailmakers in Ft. Lauderdale. Shaw also served as president of the Ft Lauderdale Marine Industry Association.

His retirement years had him realizing a lifelong dream of building his own yacht and sailing off into the sunset with his wife, Midge. Sailing �Harms Way�, they took off for the Abaco Islands where they lived on the boat for more than 10 years and where Skip was Race Committee Chairman of the Hope Town Sailing Club for over 3 years. He raised the bar in sailing clubs and always accepted the challenge of a good race.

Most recently he was a founding member of the Indian River Model Boat Racing Association of Vero Beach, FL which was fortunate to have him as commodore in their early years. With this group he sailed remote controlled Solings and Footies and even just recently he was designing new boats and sails.

Shaw is survived by his wife Midge of 43 years and 2 stepdaughters. He is also survived by 7 children from his first marriage to Dorothy Fenk; Connie White and son-in-law Jon of Trophy Club, Texas, Peggy Donovan and son-in-law Tom of Delmar, NY, Candace Schiffer and son-in-law Fred of Long Island, NY, Kerry Reppel and son-in-law Stephen of Utica, NY, April Hill of Clearwater, FL, Jeff Shaw and daughter-in-law Alix of Cazenovia, NY, Priscilla Wolfe and son-in-law Ken of Ft Myers, FL, stepdaughters Chris McGuire and son-in-law Scott of Vero Beach, FL, and Julie Carney and son-in-law Tom of Ft. Lauderdale; 21 grandchildren and 19 great grandchildren.

He was predeceased by Dorothy Fenk Shaw and brother Robert Walter Shaw.