TRIBUTES have been paid to a popular pensioner whose love of sailing made a huge impact on the community.

Ron Evans, 86, was awarded Weymouth and Portland Cruising Association honorary membership for his sailing feats.

Friends of the plucky yachtsman, who died at Dorset County Hospital on Monday afternoon, say he will be sorely missed.

At the age of 83, Ron was presented with a lifetime membership and silver tankard by the cruising association after sailing through gale force winds on a cruise back from northern Spain in 2008.

The bad weather hit Mr Evans and crew members as they passed through the Bay of Biscay and did not abate for three days.

Crew and association member Allan Ward, 81, said Mr Evans was a well-known local character and yachtsman who sailed to Seixal opposite Lisbon last year and cruised the Solent, West Country, and Brittany this year.

He said: “Ron was great – he was very well known. He died at 5pm. Ron’s son John made it there just in time.

“We last sailed to Treguire, Brittany, about a month ago on his boat Tiger Feet.”

Mr Evans did not take up sailing until he was in his mid-70s, after he moved to Weymouth from east Sussex to be close to family following his wife Eileen's death.

He told the Dorset Echo at the time: “I was in the Navy during the war but had never done normal sailing in my life.

“My brother Derek invited me out on his boat and that was it, I got hooked.”

The pensioner first bought a 22ft boat which he took to St Malo, France, then a 26ft boat, before downsizing his home to buy a 42ft ketch keel boat.

Mr Evans lived on his yacht at Weymouth Marina while renting out his cottage to pay for sailing.

Weymouth Marina manager Alistair Clarke said: “Ron got on well with everybody, a lot of people knew him on the marina.

“He’s lived on his boat here since 2006 but he was also very adventurous – every summer he would disappear off and spend a month or two sailing.

“He made an exciting trip through the Bay of Biscay and he was always active on and around the boat.

“He used to sit and have dinner with the other berth holders – they looked after him as he got older but he was fiercely independent.

“He was always on the go and always had a project in mind, regardless of whether his body was up to it.

“He will be missed.”