The Publisher
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Nov 11, 2009, 5:25 PM
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EIGHT BELLS: Megga Bascombe
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From Neil Harvey:
The Australian sailing community mourns the passing of one of its most colorful characters & yacht delivery skippers, Megga Bascombe, aged 62. He was delivering a Volvo 60 from Cairns to Hong Kong when he collapsed on deck half way from Bintyng in Indonesia and Sandakan in Malaysia - the crew was unable to revive him.
The boat is scheduled to arrive in Sandakan where the respective government agencies will take care of affairs & and an autopsy. He had been battling prostrate cancer of late, and as the moniker suggests, he was a big boy!
I grew up with him in South Australia as our families were very close and both involved in sailing at Port Lincoln Yacht Club and the Waybacks Football Club, where Megga was a mascot.
Following high school, he briefly worked as an apprentice baker, riding his bicycle to work in the dark hours, until he was able to join the navy as a clearance diver.
I remember him coming home on leave & telling me that he had just been to the USA & back to pick up the new destroyer, HMAS Hobart, and upon entering Gatun Lake whilst transiting the Panama Canal, they were ordered to empty the saltwater from the fire-fighting reserve tanks and refill them with fresh water. About this time, a cruise ship happened to cross there paths, and they continued to carry out orders, to the dismay of many an unsuspecting tourist & crew – international diplomatic relationships were temporarily strained for a while.
As a lad, he found a bottle washed up on a local South Australian beach, for which he gained a place in the Guinness Book of World records (longest distance of note in a bottle) the reward of which was a tour of their brewery & a pint. Years later he visited the Guinness Brewery in Ireland, dressed as he did on most deliveries in shorts, T-shirt & thongs (of the foot variety) to collect his reward – three days later, he’d had enough of their complimentary black brew !
He stayed with me in Florida on his way home, and I took him to Clearwater Beach for lunch, and when the waitress asked him what he would like to drink, he boldly pronounced that he’d like to start with a six pack of beers – and another 6 with his meal !
He gave freely of his time to other sailors, especially kids, and was a most respected yacht delivery skipper with the utmost respect for the sea & strict navigation principles. He was also a gracious host at the BBQ named in his honor at Lincoln Race Week each February and was a Vietnam War veteran.
He is survived by his daughter Jo, son Graeme, three grand children, mother Clarice, brother John, sisters Ann & Jillian and nieces & nephews.
“We all came from the sea. We are tied to the ocean, and when we go back to the sea, whether it is to sail or to watch it, we are going back from whence we came.” -- John F. Kennedy, 1962
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