Royal Bermuda Yacht Club have lost one of their most distinguished members with the death, at 94, of New Yorker James McClenahan Mertz.

Referred to as the ?Old Man of the Sea?, Mertz, from Rye, New York, held the record for the number of Newport-Bermuda Race crossings ? a grand total of 30.

And up until his death on January 25, he had been planning to compete in this year?s Centennial event. His boat, is still expected to be among the fleet.

He also sailed in the Marion-Bermuda Race seven times and was among the fleet last year.

An honorary member of the RBYC, Mertz made his last crossing in the Newport-Bermuda race two years ago.

In an interview with , he said: ?I don?t go out to win anymore. It?s just a cruise. I just like to get there and meet the people, the sailors. We have a lovely camaraderie.?

Mertz was fiercely proud of the fact that he had participated in all but two editions of the Newport-Bermuda event since 1936. He missed out in 1948 and 1986.

The retired owner of roofing slate quarries, he was watch captain when won in 1950. Though he first competed in the race in 1936, his links to the Island and its people date back to 1927 when he raced against Bermudian sailors in their one-designs in Long Island Sound.

Also, in 1943 during the World War Two, he was stationed in the Great Sound. He came ashore just once ? for four hours ? in the five weeks he was there ?putting a new ship in commission?.

After graduating from Yale University, he rose through the ranks of the US Navy to become Commander of a destroyer-escort division during the war.

Following the war, he co-founded the Junior American Yacht Club and served as commodore of the American Yacht Club in Rye on several occasions.

Mertz was pre-deceased by his wife Allegra, also a keen sailor, and is survived by daughter Allegra Torrey, step son James Brickell and three granddaughters.