Peter McNeil, who died tragically in a plane crash near Hotham, Humberside, on
Saturday, March 13, was a well-respected member of the Scottish sailing scene.
Born on New Year's day in 1971, he lived most of his life in Skelmorlie and more-recently in Westerton with his partner, Rosie.
While a pupil at Greenock High School, Peter started dinghy sailing in the after-school hours tuition provided by the school at the Royal West of Scotland Amateur Boat Club on the Esplanade, Greenock.
By the mid-1980s, his sailing skills had reached a level where he was selected for the Scottish 420 Sailing Squad, with which he competed at events around the UK and at Kiel in Germany.
While still at school, Peter started his first career, as a sailing instructor. During his summer vacations, he taught at Tighnabruaich Sailing School.
On completing his HND in Business Studies, he started working for Graham Technology, then based on Hillington Industrial Estate, but the call of the water was too strong for him to settle to a desk-bound job and after a short period he resigned to spend a summer as a dinghy sailing instructor with Mark Warner Holidays at their resort in Sardinia. When the summer season ended, Mark Warner offered him a post as a ski guide at their winter season resort in Meribel.
Returning to Scotland in the Spring of 1994, Peter was employed as a seasonal instructor at the National Water Sports Centre on Cumbrae. During the winter off-season of 1995-96, he went to Florida to take the first steps towards his second career, that of commercial pilot. In April 1996 he passed his UK private pilot's licence examinations at Ormond Beach Flying School.
In 1997 he was offered a full-time position at NWSC Cumbrae, where he continued to build on his watersports skills, adding instruction certificates for windsurfing, powerboat and keelboat instruction up to RYA yachtmaster instructor level. He particularly enjoyed the week-long west coast cruises with students of all abilities from novice to yachtmaster, when he was able to share his love of Scotland's west coast with people from all walks of life. In 1998 he was appointed RYA Sailing Coach for Scotland.
Despite his love of watersports instruction, Peter's lifetime ambition had always been to become a commercial pilot and in January 2000 he sold his flat in Glasgow to finance his way through the JAR-ATPL (European Commercial Pilot's) course at BAE Systems in Adelaide, Australia. He returned to the UK in January 2001 and completed the UK-based element of the training course at Bournemouth. He was issued with his JAR-ATPL in June 2001.
In September 2001, he returned to employment with Graham Technology, this time as Company Pilot.
He flew the company Cessna 310 on executive business trips throughout the UK and to destinations in Ireland and the Netherlands. He also trained as a helicopter pilot so that he would be able to fly GT
executives on shorter-range trips and, at the time of his death, was a few weeks away from sitting his helicopter pilot examinations.
At the time of his death, Peter was at Humberside preparing to add a U.S. (FAA) commercial pilot's licence to his existing qualifications.
Peter maintained his interests in sailing and in 2002 was a crew member on the Scottish Series Overall Winner, Elanor. He and his partner Rosie purchased a classic wooden Pixie yacht, Piccolo, and spent much of their leisure time restoring it. They had recently moved Piccolo to Rhu Marina in preparation for the 2004 season.
Peter - who was known as Pete to his many friends - had an infectious love of life, an impish sense of humour and the ability to bring out the best in people.
He was widely loved and admired by his many friends, who are devastated by his loss. They and his family take comfort from the fact that, when he died, he was doing exactly what he loved doing.
He crammed more into his 33 years than most people achieve in a normal lifespan. He will be remembered for his love of Scotland, its wildlife, the waters of the west coast and the skies above.
Peter is survived by his partner and soulmate Rosie, his parents Irene and Ian, brother David, sister Alison, and David's long-term partner Susan.
He is, and will continue to be, sorely missed.
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