A veteran comet sailor will be laid to rest today when the funeral for East End Mini Yacht Club sailor Roddy Foggo is held at Ebenezer Methodist Church in St George’s.Foggo, 80, was one of the founding members of the East End Mini Yacht Club and was an accomplished sailor in the seventies and eighties, winning the popular Long Distance Comet Race three times in four years in 1970, ‘72 and ‘73 in his boat Scrapper. Colin Clarke, who would go on to become a close friend, denied Foggo four straight victories when he gained his only victory in the 1971 race.Clarke remembers Foggo as an outstanding, but modest sailor who was a skilled tradesman who, along with others like Mickey Foggo and Sonny Foggo, built the wooden comets at the East End Mini Yacht club as they started to compete more in the long distance race.“We go way back, he was one of the founders of the East End Mini Yacht Club along with people like Michael Harvey, Alton Millett and Buddy Wade,” said Colin Clarke who later became a member of the club.“That’s where I got to know him. He was a decent sailor in his time and was a number one teacher. If you look at Stevie Dickinson today, a lot of what he knows about sailing Roddy Foggo taught him. He wasn’t the type to hang around the bar and drink, he never made much noise, he was very humble.“He, myself, Colin O’Connor and Mickey Foggo were the first Bermudians in 1971 to go up to sail in the Comet Class Nationals in Ohio and it later became the Comet Internations because there were sailors from overseas.”Veteran West End sailor Gladwin Lambert remembers when Foggo began sailing in the long distance race, despite being several years younger. “I’ve been sailing comets since i was ten and Roddy was one of those who started to build the wooden ones,” said Lambert, a two-time winner of the annual June race between the three clubs.“I’m told he also designed the crest for the East End Mini Yacht Club. He was an excellent sailor, he was always in the running. The year Roddy came out nobody knew much about his sailing ability. I’m sure in that first year he was in the top three. He was always up there in the top three. I can remember him having three boats and all his boats were called Scrapper.