Maurice came to live in Bangor in 1944 and to this day has lived in sight of Ballyholme Bay. It is this allied to the influence of his good friends and childhood neighbours William and James Nixon, that he started sailing when he was 10 years old and became a Cadet Member at Ballyholme YC.

He had a successful career in dinghy racing including winning the Irish National Enterprise Championships in 1969 and 1970, runner up in 1971 and finishing runner up in the Irish GP 14 Championships in 1975. In 1970 he also won the Helmsman’s Championship of Ireland.

He then became involved in cruising and keel boat racing including Waverleys, Squibs, and Sigmas. He has served as an Cadet Members instructor at BYC and served on the RYANI Council for a number of years. Maurice was Rear Commodore of RUYC 2019-2020.

In 1999, he and his late wife (also an experienced sailor) acquired a Sadler Starlight 39, Leemara of Howth (which had been built for his father-in-law in 1990) and owned it up until he sold her at the end of this season. He has cruised extensively mainly around Ireland and the West Coast of Scotland but including the Irish Cruising Club Rally to Galicia in 2017.