Bermuda Comet Class Association president Maxwell Curtis has paid tribute to his late sailing colleague Zaniko Hendrickson, who recently passed away at age 35.

Curtis described the Mid Atlantic Boat and Sports Club commodore as a “pillar” in the local Comet fleet and his death as a devastating blow to the association.

“This has definitely set this class back and to be honest it's still hard to even talk about it,” Curtis told The Royal Gazette.

“Zaniko was not only a pillar in the Gombeys, he was a pillar in the Comets. He was the commodore down at Mid Atlantic Boat and Sports Club and a leader and an innovator wherever he was, so this is hard.

“My wife Waynette and I are even close with his girlfriend, Shakari Hollis, and her son, Amouri, so we are feeling it all around.

“Zaniko's girlfriend used to help her my wife out on the race committee as well, so the Comet family is exactly what it is — a family. Everyone is connected and this one hurts a lot.”

Curtis said Hendrickson was just as passionate about racing Comets as he was in his influential roles as H & H Gombeys troupe’s lead drummer and a founding member of the Bermuda Gombey Council.

“One thing about Zaniko was he never gave up. He never gave up whether he came last or first and always had the same reaction and emotions,” he said.

“Gombeys was his passion but sailing was his escape from life. There were times he didn't even have a crew and would sail by himself just to escape from everybody. That's the type of guy he was.”

Curtis said his late colleague was among those who encouraged him to become class president.

“He was like my right-hand man and one of the guys that pushed me to be the president,” he said.

“Zaniko even pushed me to be the sailing chairman down at East End Mini Yacht Club and he's younger than me. You would expect to get that push from an older person but Zaniko was way above his years.”

Hendrickson is the son and grandson of late Mid Atlantic Boat and Sports Club sailors Lawrence “Stickers” Hendrickson Sr and Jr and often competed with siblings Zane and Zanikae.