Sad news of the passing of George Buehler from backyard boating building forum

I have copied this from the forum





March 2, 2018

To all concerned…
It saddens me to announce the sudden death of George Buehler.
George died February 28, 2018 at age 69 of complications following an aortic aneurism and emergency surgery.

George would be honored that in lieu of flowers, donations be made to WAIF at Old Dog Haven • Helping old dogs in their golden years https://olddoghaven.org/

His business George Buehler Yacht Designs at this time will be closed. Any future information of his memorial service or future business details will be provided at a later date.
George is survived by his wife Gail Buehler.

Sincerely,
Susan
Office

 

Regards to family, his book "troller yachts" was first one I read about boats and afterwards said "yes I can do that". One of only very few out there that made it easy understanding building boats.

Besides people saying his designs are to heavy and overbuilt (which I mildly agree), they made amatuers feel confident they had something worth investing in besides that, they are some of the best looking boats in my eyes.

 

George was a pretty unique and eclectic person. In his early days, awfully headstrong, but we all tended to be in these years of our lives. He mellowed considerably in recent decades and his truly heart felt joy of stray, four legged, fuzzy butted friends, is something we shared. I haven't talked to him in a few years and haven't seen him in a couple of decades, but he wasn't someone easily forgotten. He was an easy fellow to like, even when he was still pretty head strong on how things should be.

Having just returned from a massive myocardial infarction event (8 days in the CICU) and learning this the day I went in and knowing our ages, well an eye opening thing for me. I was fortunate in the area of my damage, so 3 stints later and hopes I'll survive the recovery period, I'll get to join the open heart club soon enough. I have a wearable automatic defibrillator, which the hospital wouldn't let me leave without. About 5% of patients with my particular HA type require these, but the success rate is pretty good, assuming my heart functions continue to improve. I went in with 20% normal output and they hemmed and hawed about me letting me leave, with 35% output, after a couple of weeks, but I'm a pain in the butt to hold down long.

God bless you Gail and family. I'll miss his laugh . . .

 

Best down to earth books ever, gave me the will to give boat building a go, Not really that hard when you have read Georges books.

 

Ditto, and the same to Susan of the office, who wrote the sad post #1 message, and who together with Gail and Bodie* is honored by George on the front
page of his website. - (* in full Bodacious, which means bold + audacious)

I've once read George's whole website, which gave me a lot of joy due to the boats, his humor, and the technical info. I've then posted some pictures of the 82' Oceans model on the random picture thread (post #7604), I would love to see her in full size, but unfortunately for me that build didn't happen yet...

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Thanks for what you left behind George.​

You will be missed...​

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2001: George and Teddy (age 16 then)​

 

I met George at the Wooden Boat Festival in Port Townsend. Unfortunately he was busy and I didn't get a chance to chat. I had read some of his books, and corresponded with him about one of them. He was very prolific. His designs really set a standard. He will be missed.

 

Corresponded with George in late 80s over a semi custom 57.5' version of Dragonfly, never finalized a deal. I met with him on Whidbey Island when I attended a Metal Boat Festival in early 90s......I don't believe we met at the festival but he still found time to chat. Loved his "Backyard Boatbuilding", just two or three ideas from the book more than paid for the purchase price. Eventually my boat desires went off in a completely different direction but always had a lot of time for him, his designs and ideas. RIP George. Freshwinds and fair skies.