“Gidday mate, I’m Closey and I’m going to be your nightmare” (the polite version).
Pretty much the 1st sentence between myself and Closey back in 93′ at Lidgard Sails in Auckland. Jimmy was there with the Tokio program that the loft was making some sails for. And I was one of the older sailmakers there at the time at a ripe old age of 22. So my first introduction to Closey was when he and Alby Pratt rolled into the loft after a trip across the Tasman or a long training session somewhere out of Auckland (can’t remember which) but they’d just got their hands on “The Brick” – The Swarbrick Whitbread 60 that was part of Dickos Tokio RTWR program – and needed some sails recut. Like most wide eyed, innocent (sic) K1w1s being introduced to Closey, it took a little bit of time to work out which words came out of his mouth should be listened to, discarded or responded to. But I got there and that was the start of a friendship that’s seen us catch up in different projects , in different parts of the world for the last 30+ years. Every time the realisation that he was in the same time and space continuum as me again, always started the same way, with the same sentence – Me probably daydreaming or elsewise oblivious to my surroundings when interrupted by a tap on the shoulder and a “Hey. Mr Bean. What the f..k are you doing here” Sometimes followed by a question about my heritage that is probably not appropriate for this story or some other random Jim(ism).
That period of time in 93 was mainly me doing some work for him at the loft (with a side of beersies) in the early part of the year before I left and headed off overseas and Closey and the Tokio program did their thing before we caught up again later in the year in the UK before the start of the 93 Whitbread. One of the funniest things from that little period of time was the state of sheer exasperation Jimmy Lidgard (Lidgard Sails owner & Sail Designer) used to be in after a few design meetings with Closey. Closey found pretty quickly, exactly which buttons to push with Jimmy Lidgard to have him reaching for a new pack of Winnie Blues and the keys to his car to get home early for a Rum. Now Ciggies and Rum were the 2 things that helped put Jim Lidgard in the dirt far too early in life. How much of Closey increasing the intake of both of those for the poor fella we shall never really know and shall remain pure, unadulterated story telling and speculation. What I do know is we at the loft learned to wait with anticipation as Closey left the office with that bloody smile of his on his face and Jim would invariably come out of his office a few minutes later in a cloud of ciggy smoke as the door opened, face all red and all “about to blowy uppy” & cursing and swearing under his breath about that “f….n Closey”. Humour !! I wasn’t around for 95 and the Tag Heur AC Program as I’d gone to the dark side of the Evil Empire with the Blue sticker and Team NZ. But shit those Teg Heur sail design meetings must have been fun mate.
After that 93-95 sort of period though, our paths diverged a little. He loved his Ocean Racing & Americas Cup. I did a few keelboat things that saw us bump into each other at Sydney Hobarts or Kenwood Cups I think (Maybe, who knows. The 90s were a lot of fun!) but I was mainly based in NZ with skiff and dinghy sailing. And we had both had met our respective partners that are now our wives. Tell you what though – wasn’t hard to miss what boat Closey was on around the world – that friggin Fluro Green Kvaerner kit he lived in stood out like dogs nuts !!!
2001 we got to spend a good year together as part of Kevin Shoebridges Tyco Volvo 60 program. I joined at the start of 2001 as the Shore Crew sailmaker and Closey and Jules joined us a few months later in Newport, Rhode Island working with the Management and Sail Program team. So there was 4 or 5 months of Jim Close mayhem as Jim got bored and tried to help me in the loft – and got subtly re-directed elsewhere in the interests of keeping the sewing machines in 1 piece and just general productivity really. And so, we went on through the leadup in Newport, across to the UK and Hamble for the race start. Down through Capetown, across to Sydney (albeit on a ship after a broken rudder 3 days after leaving CT). Through the NZ stopover and on to Rio. There was the drunken Sat Phone calls from the Shore Crew to the boat on their last night at sea closing on Cape Town as the hammered shore crew partying up in Shoebs palatial apartment in Camps Bay (at the insistence of Sally) wanted to know how long they would be – Only Closey found that funny !!! The Porn Star Party in Newport as we wrapped things up there before relocating to the UK for the start. I’ll see if I can find some photos of all this mate. And many more such little incidents that Jims outlook on the world let him enjoy while some of the more uptight members of the team had sense of humour failures.
Sadly Jim left the team in the Rio stopover. The decision was made by management for that stopover, that in the interests of both safety and the race crews health (given the crime rates where we were & fevers and tummy upsets around in Rio at the time), that with the race crew members low on body mass and general well-being, after a very tough 3 weeks in the Southern Ocean on nothing but freeze dried food, the race crews would be flown out to wherever their partners were in the World. To return a couple of days before the leg restart. Whatever happened during that time period between Jim flying out and when he was supposed to return, I’m not sure. But Jim didn’t come back and I’d lost a mate from the team. To this day, I don’t know even half the story why and although we’ve caught up since it’s not something I’ve felt the need to ask.
My thoughts on that I’ll write, not caring who reads this – But there were some assholes on that team. I mean proper, lying, dick measuring, stab you in the back assholes (if you’ll excuse my french!). If these stories are publicised in any way, one of them may even read this and I hope he kno9ws I’m talking about him. But (in my opinion) he and others on that team just could not deal with Jims personality. Jim just does Jim – that’s it, full stop. Whether it be because people with an axe to grind got their way or he was put in a position where he felt he was better out of that environment I don’t know. But it never sat right with me from then to the end of the race that Closey and his sneaky darts (Shoeb hated the social busters right mate) were no longer there. It just felt less fun.
One of the coolest things about that race though was it was at a time in both of our lives where kids and families were starting to enter our lives. I returned to NZ, threw myself into a new career in Boat Design, pretty much as my knees were shagged after 20 years of crawling around a sail loft floor. Jim came back Aus with Jules and really, we lost touch with each other. Ironically where my family and I wound up living in Auckland was literally a couple of hundred meters from Jules’ sister Michelle. And as things do in this, 3 degrees of separation sort of world, we wound up becoming friends. My son and their eldest (Jim & Jules nephew) were same year, same class, same footy & cricket teams. So, we kept up to date for the most part on what Jim and Jules were up to. But there just wasn’t the opportunity to catch up in person.
2015 me and my family moved to Australia. Jim and Jules were inland Toowoomba way ( I think) at that time, so Jim and I caught up a few times via text or Linked In so we knew where each other was. But my kids found the move from Auckland to Australia very tough. I mean, all absorbing, give up your weekends and focus on where your kids and your wife need your energy type of tough. And Jim and Jules were dealing with their own battles & life problems. So, although we knew where each other was and how close we were in reality we just never had the opportunity to catch up again in person. We’d only just gotten on top of life when Covid hit, and I had Mum pass away in NZ at the end of the Covid period of lockdowns etc. So, I wasn’t in a good place. I knew and my wife Sandra (as people who really know you, instinctively know) insisted that after 8 years or so on land I had to get back on the water.
Those of us that sail and have had sailing as pretty much the center of our livelihoods and outlook on life for as long as we can remember, know just how much peace and soul revival sailing can bring to you. And so it was with me. I bought an OK dinghy that was based at the RQYS in Brisbane, went sailing, went racing again and was enjoying the hell out of it and life again. And no more than 2 or 3 months after getting back into it – you guessed it…….
Having a post-race debrief at the RQ bar and there was this tap on my shoulder and ……..
“Hey. Mr Bean. What the f..k are you doing here”
Jimmy Close. Red wine in hand, that bloody smile on his face and.. a big hug with a loud ….Maaaaate
Circle complete.
That’s the absolute best thing with Closey. It can be, and it was 20 years, (give or take) but our first conversation wouldn’t have been any different in style, context, even content, with the last conversation we had in Rio before he jumped on his plane to Jules in 2002.
I love the fact that I’ve learned to understand Jim. Appreciate his free thinking ways. I love the fact that we can be having a conversation and I’ll be p…..g myself laughing at something he’s describing, or more accurately the way it’s being described while people in the same conversation who have just met him are trying to work out if he’s actually from this planet & speaking English. And I love the fact that if he realises they don’t understand, at times his attempts to make them understand can double down what they’re already thinking and leave them even more confused. Although to be fair there is still time those who have known him for 30+ years still wonder where that random, free-thinking mind has wandered off to this time.
Closey. I get you mate. I thank god that he put us on a couple of paths that intercepted a few times over our lives.
Love you mate.
Mr Bean
Paul Simon (Mr Bean), Finn & offshore sailor, master sailmaker, draftsman and great mate.
