Edward Heath - 1916-2005

Former Morning Cloud skipper Owen Parker recalls his time sailing with the British Prime Minster

Sir Edward Heath, Prime Minister from 1970 and 1974 and a major figure within the international yacht racing community throughout the 1970s, died aged 89 on Sunday night at his home in Salisbury. He was discovered to have a pulmonary embolism on his lung two years ago and never fully recovered from this.

Heath was Prime Minister during a volatile period in British history. His tenure included Bloody Sunday, soaring energy costs and the three day week as well as his lifelong political ambition of taking Britain into the European Community which he succeeded in doing in 1973. Yet throughout this period he found time to sail his series of five Morning Clouds. His racing CV includes winning the Sydney-Hobart Race in 1969 (the last British boat to do so before Aera last year) aboard the S&S 34 Morning Cloud I and captaining the British Admiral's Cup team to victory in 1971 aboard Morning II. He subsequently competed in the 1973 and 1979 Admiral's Cup aboard Morning Cloud III and Morning Cloud V respectively. During this time it was Heath who came up with the now famous analogy with which many racing yacht owners will empathise: "ocean racing is like standing under a cold shower tearing up £20 notes".

A man who knew the seafaring side of Edward Heath better than anyone was Owen Parker, Heath's long term skipper and author of the book Tack Now, Skipper about his time afloat with the former Conservative leader and Britain's longest ever standing Member of Parliament.

"I was with him for 12 years, so not quite from the start," says Parker. "I did the [1969] Hobart Race with him. I joined him at Burnham Week the year Morning Cloud I was launched and then he asked me to do Sydney-Hobart which was that year."

On 18 June 1970 when the Conservatives unexpectedly slid into office by a majority of 30, Parker remembers he was in the USA racing on board the Lloyds of London Nicholson 57 Lutine. Sailing at the time with Peter Nicholson and navigator Anthony Churcill, also Morning Cloud crewman, they sent him a cable of congratulations.

"He was a great guy," recalls Parker. "He was very shy. His big problem in politics was that he was just too honest. I don’t ever sail with anyone I don’t like and I sailed with him until he’d said he’d had enough and that was just after the bad Fastnet."

During the 1979 Fastnet Race when 15 competitors lost their lives, Heath was also injured during a knock down. "He stood his corner and he didn’t let anyone know," says Parker. "Then the next morning we saw dried blood on his all-in-one and he had a big gash on his leg. We had to cut them off because the blood had dried. After the race when we got to Plymouth we took him ashore to have stitches put in."

Ten years early the Sydney-Hobart had also been a grim race. "We had 24 hours in 55 knots of wind...in a 34 footer," recounts Parker. "Every time I saw the sistership down the Hamble after that I thought I was bloody mad. There were only six of us on the boat and of that six there were only two workers, and that was myself and Duncan Kay. Ted was so cut up when we won, he wouldn’t go on the television down there, he sent me instead. He said ‘no, you do it Owen, you know how to answer the questions’. So I went on telly in Hobart. Then we went to the Governor’s House for dinner. The only person who’s clothes didn’t turn up was Ted’s. We all had our crew uniform on and he had to come in a roll-neck sweater. He could get away with that being the leader of the opposition at the time. He involved the crew wherever he went. When he was invited for dinner he’d say there was eight of us or ten of us. All the crew went with him. He was a team man. He was a good lad. I was very depressed last night."

While a Morning Cloud rule was the politics was never discussed on board, there were occasions when the crew witnessed the weight pressing on the Prime Minster's shoulders. "I was in Chequers the night of Bloody Sunday, and when he came out of the radio room I have never seen a man so cut up in all my life," says Parker.

Parker feels that Heath used sailing to get away and clear his mind from his troubles ashore. "There was no politics on the boat, we talked sailing because he loved his sailing. I think it was because there weren’t mobile phones in those days and he could really get away from it."

However it was far from all being gloom and doom. "My best memories were going up to have breakfast with him at Number 10," says Parker. "My time once a fortnight was 7-8am breakfast before he became a politician again. Taking all the wives to Chequers was great. Just being with him - he was a great guy to be with, very funny, very loyal and he was a lovely man. I’m sorry when he gave it all up - and so were the crew. There is not one crew who could say a bad word about him."

At the time Heath was Prime Minster trade unions were at the height of their power and were helping to cripple the British economy. In this pre-Thatcher era, the government had part nationalised Rolls Royce and Upper Clyde Shipbuilders to prevent them going bankrupt. The government under Heath had also taken on the National Union of Miners and lost.

"When they talk about him being a staunch conservative and all that what you’ve got to remember was that the latter Morning Clouds, when we had more crew, they were all genuine working guys," says Parker. "In fact one who was the shipwright and he was the shop steward at Vosper Thorneycrofts. We called him Red. And he was a member of the crew for about five or six years. For Ted whatever your politics were he didn’t want to know - so long as you are good on the boat you’re in."

Parker's favourite anecdote about his owner was the occasion the Prime Minster turned up late for a race and Morning Cloud had left without him. "He came out in a power boat and he said ‘you left without me, Owen…’ And I said ‘did you want to do the race or not, sir?’ And he said ‘you did the right thing Owen.’ The boat has still got to perform. He took all that in his stride."

On board Heath spent a lot of time at the helm, but he was clearly not at home in the galley. "He was no good at cooking," says Parker. "And we wouldn’t let him make tea after he made tea in soup cups which had bit of carrots and onions in there. We didn’t like that much. So we said ‘don’t go in the galley any more’."

Since Heath retired from yachting in 1980 he has remained in contact with his old crew who regularly used to meet up with him once or twice a year, often at London Boat Show. Aside from Parker, Heath's crew included the likes of Anthony Churchill (future publisher of Seahorse), Pat Lilley, the UK Nautor Swan agent, the late Peter Bateman, one time 505 World Champion Larry Marks, Duncan Kay, John Arthur, Peter Nicholson, Ian Lallow (who built Morning Cloud II and III) and Ian Godfrey.

The last time the crew got together was at a dinner held by the Royal Southern YC in his honour last December when 56 sat down for dinner including 11 of his old crew.

Today Owen Parker resides at the back of the Swan 601 Spirit of Jethou with Sir Peter Ogden. "He’s another lovely owner. I have been very lucky with my owners," he concludes.