CONTINUOUSWAVE

I just logged onto CW after being off for several years. After poking around a bit I wondered why I didn't see Tony's handle in any of the threads. So I did a search and quickly learned the sad news of Tony's passing. What a tremendous loss to this unique community. Tony was the first to welcome me as a new Continuous Waver way back when. We both had Katamas at the time and he shared much knowledge and friendship. Tony was a true gentleman and always a voice of reason. Such a great guy I just can't believe it. I'm sure those of you who have stuck around all this time have already been through this but I just wanted to share what a loss I feel at learning this sad news.

Rest in Peace Tony

Jeff Myers
Riverton, NJ

Jeff--Tony was a great guy. I had the chance to meet him and go boating with him. It was a great day.

I'm glad you got to meet him Jim. He was such a positive part of Continuous Wave for a long time.

Here is a nice image of Tony and Matt--two of the three partners in the restored Boston Whaler 19 REVENGE, STRIKE 3:



I took this in 2006 (or maybe 2007) when I went out to San Francisco to visit my son. Tony heard about my visit and insisted we get together and do some boating. I am so glad he did that, as it gave me the chance to met him and Matt, and to get out on the water for a great afternoon.

We had several boating adventures with Tony and Edie - Bodega Bay and Alaska. We got to sail on Strike 3 out of Bodega Bay and then they visited us in Juneau where we got some boating done aboard my 1990 Revenge 22 - W.T..

Fun couple.

He is missed by all.

For readers who did not know elaelap, he was Tony Wilde. His user-id was Pale Ale spelled backwards. I never could figure out how to pronounced it.

Tony joined the forum on November 6, 2002. In the next 11 and a half years, Tony posted 8,801 articles to the forum, about an average of two a day. He was an excellent writer, a great contributor, and a most welcome point of view on any topic.

His passing was announced by his boating partner, Matt (placerville) in a thread on the old forum:

Tony (Elaelap) crossing the bar
http://continuouswave.com/ubb/Forum1/HTML/022279.html

As I said then: Tony's life touched many of ours through his writing here, in his contagious enthusiasm for fishing and boating, by his zest for living, and through his strong conviction in his beliefs. We feel sadness now, but it will soon be replaced with a joy in having had the opportunity to know Tony, to go boating with him, to share a beer, and to call him a friend.

Tony was really a great guy.
What a loss.

Even though Tony and I differed almost diametrically when it came to politics, and boy did we "joust" in these pages, it was all put aside in an instant when I wanted help finding a certain Whaler. He found one of the Whalers I now own, up in the bay area (I'm in SoCal) for sale, alerted me to it, went and checked it out for me, gave a detailed run down on it's condition, and then spent half an hour on the phone with me while he was on vacation in Hawaii, to tell me about it. Great guy whose class superseded all else.

-Peter