For those that knew Tim he has been unwell for some years and has been getting old, I have been visiting him most weeks as he became bed ridden unable to do much but get lonely.
Last week he went into care, sadly today he passed from heart and lung problems.
Tim was there when I took up windsurfing 35yrs ago and I looked up to him with his big Silver Speed board which in those days was a very fast early to plain board.
Tim was a helpful bloke who was always keen to fix things such as windsurfing parts and if he couldn't fix it he would make it nothing was too hard if a mast was stuck you would ring him to sort.
Tim was a keen windsurfer at both Victoria and Wellington Point every time I see a easterly blowing off the bank at Wellington that he loved to sail with me I'll think of you old mate.
Tim was 82 and passed peacefully
Sad news. Tim will be missed, it was good still seeing him continue to drop by the point after he had to stop sailing. Always a great mate to sail with, good for a chat & a laugh, kept an eye on us all & helped out quite a few people over the years. Condolences to his family & hopefully they continue his sailing legacy.
A tribute to Tim Hughes
Tim was born in Rhodesia in South Africa. His mother died when he was a young lad, about 9 or 10 yo, if my memory serves me correctly. He did not speak much of his father, but he missed his mother terribly after that loss and often teared up when he spoke of her. He ended up in a religious boarding school. Tim was an adventurous lad and often waged school with another young lad, to shoot their slingshots, and go exploring. He did his best to wag on Sundays to get out of Sunday service.
Tim had a love for the natural world, animals and agriculture. He had good animal husbandry skills and somewhere in his early adult life he left South Africa and came to Australia to this part of Queensland.
Tim gained a significant position managing the Briggalow Research Station (BRS) out near Theodore and Brian Pastures working for the DPI for many years there. Tim fixed and fashioned what he could with limited resources, given the remoteness of the place, and became well known for his mechanical skills and home grown engineering abilities. He could operate a lathe, weld, drill, and work hard on the land.
After working at BRS for many years, a position for a Station Manager came available for the University of Queensland Agricultural Research Station at Redland Bay, for which Tim was successful, and he served there for many years too until that Research site was closed and sold.
Tim was one of the first windsurfers in the late 1980s to trial smaller boards with large sails and aluminium delta fins for speed sailing, while the rest of us were still on our 370cm long longboards. It was common to see him streaking up and down behind the Wellington Point sandbank on his silver 125L Speed board with an 8m2 or so sail. Tim also had an interest in three wheel trolley land speeders powered by sail, which he raced along with his son Adrian. He engineered much of the trolley frames and wheel axles and other parts himself. Tim may have influenced his son Adrian, who later became a qualified Mechanical Engineer.
Tim was generous and offered often to help to make things for this windsurfing crowd. In later life in retirement, he used his lathe and metal working skills to repair and rebuild wheel chairs for people with disabilities, many of those sent to people overseas in less fortunate places.
Tim is survived by his lovely wife Eleanor, son Adrian and daughter Susan.
He could be seen regularly standing at the northern tip of Wellington Point looking out over the bay looking through his spy glass locating whitecaps on waves to determine how much wind was out on the bay, while wearing his station masters Akubra hat.
Tim requested not to hold a funeral for himself, instead just a small family gathering wake.
A tribute to Tim Hughes.
Shane Zipf
