Townsville 16 May 2006.

We learnt today that sadly our dear friend John Crowley passed away peacefully in his sleep. He and Dolores were about to drive north that very day from Santa Rosa near San Fransisco to Cordova in Alaska where they had so royally welcomed us on illywhacker's arrival there in 2000. That we stayed so long in Alaska was in no small way due to the fabulous hospitality we received, much of which was thanks to John and Dolores. There were a few of us yachts in Cordova that year and we formed the very exclusive PWSYC - the distinctive burgee still flies proudly from our spreaders here in North Queensland. In 2001, we cruised Prince William Sound in company with PK and Julia on SY Fairhaven out of Bellingham, WA. The burgee we both sported then had a special meaning last week when we were fortunate to have them aboard illywhacker for a cruise out of Townsville. As defrosted Cordova yachties we rejoiced in many stories of our time there and last week we rang John on his 80th birthday. We sang happy birthday to him from the Australian chapter of the PWSYC - we were so glad we did.