David joined the Club in 1948 and served as Commodore from 1976 to 1979. A member of the General Committee and Powerboat Committee, he was instrumental in creating the popular Wine Club. David served as President of the Brisbane Club and also Chairman of their Wine Club for many years. He was also a very keen waterskier and was the first person to have skied on Somerset Dam. In his early days David sailed Thorpe dinghies and the Olympic class heavyweight 12 square metre sharpies in Club races on the Brisbane River. Later he enjoyed the powerboating activities at the Squadron, winning a number of Goodwill and Myora Cups in his vessel “Kingfisher” — now owned and lovingly restored by Commodore John Warlow. David was very pleased to see her back at the Squadron, returned to her former glory. In recent years, David was the proud owner of “Balaika”, one of the last timber Halversons ever built. He spent many happy times with family and friends down the Bay and beyond and, although no longer competing in the Goodwill and Myora Cups, he and Balaika were valued volunteers as checkpoint skipper/boat for these events. Following the Goodwill Cup, David and other Members could be found rafted-up for a week of fishing and crabbing camaraderie at Jumpinpin. David was also a passionate fisherman and, along with fellow Members John Larking and P/Cdre Wal Bishop (fondly known as the ‘Barra Boys’), made some 18 trips to the Cape, the Gulf and Darwin chasing the big one. This was a much-anticipated adventure, one David looked forward to every year. His claim that he held the record within the group for catching the biggest barra is undisputed: a huge 1.25m monster caught in the Archer River in North Queensland. David was always happy to share his stories about these fishing expeditions, especially over a bottle of wine with his friends and neighbours, many of whom were Squadron Members. He was immensely proud to be awarded Life Membership of the Squadron in 1983. Ted always refused to say anything about being 90 —- always claiming to be “89 years and so-and-so-many months” — right up to his crossing the bar as a much-loved member of the WAGS family. He started sailing at the age of five on the Brisbane River in a dinghy built by his father, developing his skills on that craft over 10 years, before moving on to a 30-year-old (and restored by his dad) 14-foot skiff for the next decade-and-a-half. After completing his medical degree, Ted had to move away from the water for work commitments, crewing others’ boats only rarely from 1950 until the early ‘70s, when he bought “a very run-down” 12-foot Thorpe. Later, after acquiring a much younger vintage Hood23, Ted and his wife joined RQYC in 1983 — purchasing his ‘signature’ Mottle33 “Colombina” — and were regular Bay sailors until her passing in 1990. When he was still working in Ipswich, ‘Dr Reye’ would come down on occasion to go for a sail: “As far as I can find out, from looking at my old logs, the first recorded time I went out on WAGS was in October of ’94. Whether I’ve done any more, any earlier, they’re not recorded.” Ted enjoyed sailing, regarding it as “always been an obsession.” But he particularly enjoyed WAGS as it offered a fantastic “way of getting to know people and a way of getting to improve my sailing skills.” Ted won the pursuit race many times during WAGS at the club, as well as winning the JSA prize (more than once!) for the greatest number of starts in a calendar year. He loved the many lifelong friends he made over the years, many of whom sailed with him until his last WAGS. Over a long WAGS career, one might have many victories and keeping track of these would be no easy task. In his interview for the two-page feature in MAINSHEET Winter 2017, Ted said, “Over the last 10–11 years, we’ve managed to win once a year. I know that because that’s the time they’ve been giving out the t-shirts. I have one t-shirt for each year … Before then it was bottles of rum, which was harder to keep track of ...” Valē David Bowly RQYS Life Member, P/Cdre Valē Ted Reye WAGS Lifetime Achiever PIC: Matthew Tesch Royal Queensland Yacht Squadron Yearbook Mainsheet 2024 79 Valedictories
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