Jere Dennison
Bill Gieg Memorial Notes 17 January 2014
If you ever wondered how to define the word, protean, now is the occasion for those of us who knew and loved Bill Gieg to use him as a living example of the definition and have it firmly inserted into our vocabulary from this time on. Websterâs Third International Dictionary says that a protean person is capable of performing many different roles, displaying great diversity, possessed of infinite variety (he is so many sided that he refuses to be pigeon holed.) Bill amazed us with his intellect. He used it to master engineering, law, sailing, both racing and cruising, celestial navigation, flying with an instrument rating, ham radio, and deep diving.
I shall add a few items to this already masterful list. Bill and I used to stock up on coffee and drive to Annapolis every weekend in October for a few years to do the Annapolis Yacht Club Fall Series Races. We had to arrive in time to get the boat through the bridge over Spa Creek that opened at 8AM so as to get to the starting line in time. We had time to chat. Bill was a laconic chap, but we managed to talk the entire distance. I was privileged to be in the same racing crew as Bill on many occasions in the Chesapeake, to Nova Scotia, and to Bermuda. We used those skills to do some relatively leisurely cruising, in Maine, Nova Scotia, the Chesapeake, the Caribbean, and Honduras. I use the word relative as Bill was not often in a leisurely mode on a boat, while diving, or in an airplane; thankfully, as we who were with Bill came to rely on his knowledge and judgment.
Bill Gieg was a trusted, generous, and loyal friend. We plotted and schemed lots of adventures. For me, the best of those was conjured up by Bill Gieg, Bill Strickland, and me over cocktails at âHappy Hourâ at the Bull and Bear. That adventure resulted in a memorable trans-Atlantic sail from the South of France to Antigua the summer of 1985. Each of us took one of our children, and we were joined on various segments of the trip by friends and family, so the excitement was shared.
Those of us who sail out of sight of land know that the navigator is the soul of the boat, a source of vital information and a resource. Bill Gieg was a sought after master of the position of navigator because of his skill, especially in difficult sea conditions in unstable small boats. In addition to his skill with radio, sextant, clock, and calculations he was a resource of calm, experience, and good judgment.
Some of us were fortunate to be out of sight of land with Bill as navigator for over 20 days at one time. We learned the rhythm of the stars and planets. We sailed west from the Canaries. Every morning Bill was up before sunrise to measure the angle between Venus and the horizon and Betelgeuse and the horizon. He enlisted an available other crew member to record the Greenwich Mean time of each measurement. Then he went below to the navigatorâs desk to do the calculations that resulted in two lines of position. Where the two lines crossed he had our daily fix. He recorded it on the chart and reported to an English long wave radio operator who followed the progress of trans-Atlantic sailors and to the radio operator on Godspeed, a replica boat headed for Jamestown. Sadly for the crew on Godspeed, who started their crossing at the same time as we did, our daily fix showed us outpacing them by a considerable distance. As we approached our destination we came into radio contact with a transmitter on Antigua located in the bar on Shirley Heights. We arrived precisely at the entrance to English Harbor. Lord Nelsonâs navigators could not have done as well.
Billâs departure is an immense loss. We, who are left behind, find a large hole in our lives because we had expected to sit by the stove and reminisce over the many pleasurable adventures we had together.
Bill was a large thread in the fabric of many lives. Goodbye dear friend.
Respectfully, Charlie McDowell . ~(\,~
Sunday, December 8, 2013 12:01 am
GIEG, William Frederick, 73, a resident of Deltaville, Va., and former resident of Richmond, died at his home on November 27, 2013. Born in Sewickley, Pa. in the midst of WWII, Bill's family moved often, living in Philadelphia, New York, Massachusetts, Michigan, Ohio, Oregon and Connecticut. He graduated Western Reserve Academy in Hudson Ohio and entered Yale University, graduating with a degree in engineering in 1962. He went to work for Electric Boat in Groton, Conn., designing water cooling systems for nuclear submarines. He married Gretchen Tiffany in 1964. Seeking a change from engineering, Bill returned to school, this time at the University of Pennsylvania Law School, from which he graduated in 1968. He joined the firm of McGuire, Woods and Battle in Richmond, Va. out of law school and stayed until his retirement in 2010. A lifelong sailor, Bill was a member of Fishing Bay Yacht Club and was actively involved with the sailing community. His permanent move to Deltaville a number of years ago had long been a dream. He embraced the Deltaville community as a whole and the Maritime Museum in particular. Bill was always seeking new challenges and one of the highlights of his life was the father-son Atlantic passage, which he and several close friends undertook in 1985. A perpetual student, Bill continued to master new roles as varied as organic gardener, ham radio operator, navigation instructor for the power squadron, Angel Flight pilot and master diver. Within the past few years, he has put his nautical skills to work as a volunteer with the U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary, achieving the rank of coxswain just last year. For this, he transitioned from his love of sailing to the world of power boats. Mourning his passing are his daughter, Jennifer; son, David (Jenny); grandchildren, Katherine Clark, Lindsey Margaret and Patrick William (who knew him as their "Daddy Bill"); Gretchen Hensel; sister, Durga Smallen; brothers, Todd and Chuck; stepmother, Edith Gieg; nephew, Dwayne Smallen; long-time friend, Dianna Morely; and many devoted friends and colleagues. A memorial service will be held at 2 p.m. on Saturday, January 25, 2014, at the Deltaville Maritime Museum. In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to the Deltaville Maritime Museum, 287 Jackson Creek Rd., Deltaville, Va. 23043.