Frederick “Butch” Vernon Minson, 71

Verona Island, Maine

Frederick “Butch” Vernon Minson, 71, passed away at his home Oct. 30, 2017. He was born Feb. 5, 1946, in Alexandria, Va., the son of Frederick L. and Margaret V. (Davis) Minson.

Butch graduated from Old Lyme High School (Conn.) in 1964. Following high school, he attended the Coast Guard Academy, graduating in 1968. He led the Coast Guard Academy sailing team as a team captain. In 1966, Butch led the team to win the college National Sailings Championship and, in 1968, he won the college Single-Handed National Sailing Championship. In 1967 and 1968 – the first two years the Inter-Collegiate Sailing Association bestowed such status – Butch was a member of the All-American Sailing Team.

After graduating from the Coast Guard Academy, Butch attended MIT, where he earned master’s degrees in both Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering. He then served in the Coast Guard for 21 years, retiring as a commander. Following retirement, Butch coached the Maine Maritime Sailing Team for 14 years.

Butch taught sailing and seamanship, boating safety, and navigation to the general public for over 30 years, and was a featured speaker at the first Safety at Sea Symposium held at the U.S. Naval Academy. He served in various yacht club administrations and organized their races. Between the 1980s and 2014 he cruised two light-displacement boats, a Ranger 23 and a Lindenberg 28, as far north as Maine and as far south as Florida, often living aboard anywhere between 30 days and six months.

Butch always said sailing wasn’t a hobby or a sport, but, instead, a life-long addiction.