Look who's wearing Herring Shoes...

Tim Law

Sailor and Insurance Business Chairman

When Tim Law moved down permanently to Salcombe, Devon, in 2014, he was tinkering with the idea of retiring. It seems though he has been busier than ever as his career has continued and his sailing passion has seen him take gold in the World Masters Games along with a whole host of other sailing accolades.

At Herring, we choose ambassadors with a passion…and it seems Tim’s biggest passion is for life. His sporting CV – not that he has one – is a myriad of sailing achievements, including winning the Fastnet Race in 1993.

Twenty-four years later, he took gold at the World Masters Games in New Zealand for his age group, leaving 44 other competitors in his wake. The World Masters Games is the equivalent of an Olympics for 35-plus year-olds. With many modern Olympians in their 30s these days, the standard is extremely high. A little publicised event, the games attracted 28,210 athletes in 2017, all competing for rostrum positions in 28 events across a range of age categories.

“It’s all about camaraderie. Everyone competes hard but it’s still fun.”

The son of a Royal Naval captain, Tim began sailing at the age of eight when his mother was looking for a way to entertain her sons during the long summer holidays. He started in a Cadet dinghy on the River Thames at Teddington along with his elder brother Chris. Although both boys were among the alumni of rugby-obsessed Millfield School, Chris was also a prolific sailor with two America’s Cups, several Admiral’s Cups and a Congressional Cup win under his belt. He also won the Fastnet Race and was an Olympian.

Tim narrowly missed out on qualifying for the Los Angeles Olympics in 1984, but by then he was working his way up the ladder in a London insurance firm – a career he still plays a leading role in today.

A family – wife Bernadette and two daughters – followed, and as he reached the pinnacle of his career, Tim began to wonder what lay ahead after the girls left home and retirement supposedly began. His immediate plans were to move to the sailing hot-spot Salcombe, which had been a holiday destination since 1985.

“Weekends turned into long weekends, then into a week and then two. To my daughters, Salcombe is home. The environment is wonderful. I don’t think people necessarily appreciate how lucky we are to live here.”

As alluded to already, moving to Salcombe did not mean Tim took his foot off the gas. He was urged to remain on the board as chairman of Lockton Global Energy.

Meanwhile, he joined a local cross-fit unit, Willpower Fitness, and found his love of exercise had not abated, which in turn fuelled his passion for competitive sailing, mostly in a Laser but he has sailed in the Finn and Etchells classes too. This year, he has been training in Antigua and Mexico and finished 10th overall in the Laser Masters Midwinters in Florida, in preparation for the European champions in Spain this summer.

“I never thought at 50, let alone 60, that I would still be doing this. You can kind of think your life is over when you get to that age and you wonder ‘What’s next?’ You’ve got to make the most if it. You’ve got to make your life count."

Tim is about to enter the next age category up in his sport, so while the last few years may have felt tougher due to the younger men in the same group, he will go back to being the youngest in the next category up.

When we saw him Tim was preparing for his youngest daughter’s wedding which had turned his attention to his feet…and what he would be wearing on the big day. Herring was only too pleased to help him out with a pair of Fencote two-tone brogues. We also got him wearing our Padstow deck shoes for days on the water and our Philip II monk shoes for the office.

Tim said: “When I looked at the website, I kept saying: ‘Look at these’! There is everything you need and I like that. Such a wonderful product range. I like them all!”