Remembering Stan Macur

by Deb Whitehorse | Jul 22, 2024 | 2025, Home Page

Stan walking out to start a World Championship Gold Fleet race.

It is with deep sadness that we learned of the passing of Polish ice sailing legend Stan Macur. Stan played a crucial role in the international ice sailing community, shaping the sport for future generations of sailors.

For 20 years, Stan served as the IDNIYRA European Junior Sailing Director. His contributions to the sport went beyond his administrative roles. As a competitor, Stan was formidable, placing third in the World Championships three times, securing second place in the North Americans, and winning the European Championship in 1993.

Stan’s tools of the trade, his loud hailer and horn.

His generosity also marks Stan’s legacy. Pete Johns shared his story about meeting Stan for the first time at a regatta on Hamilton Bay in Canada, before the Iron Curtain fell. Stan, touring with Russian minders, struck up a friendship with Pete and promised to build a boat for him so that Pete could compete in Europe at the next World Championship. Pete never heard from Stan during the year and didn’t know he’d have a DN waiting for him at the Worlds. Despite the communication challenges of the time, Stan kept his word. When Pete arrived in Europe, he found that Stan had built and set up a boat for him, helping him place well in the regatta. This gesture marked the beginning of a lifelong friendship between the two sailors.

Stan served as the Principal Race Officer (PRO) for many DN World Championships in Europe, where his signature battered horn would signal the start of each race.

The ice sailing community has lost a giant in Stan Macur. His legacy will continue to inspire future generations of ice sailors. The IDNIYRA extends our sympathies to Stan’s family and the Polish DN Association. The worldwide ice-sailing community will miss him.

Stan’s Obituary:
To our deepest sadness, Stan Macur P-111, a Polish iceboater and a multimedalist of ice-sailing regatta on both national and international level, passed away on July 19th 2024. Stan started his sailing adventure in his teenage years. When he discovered ice-sailing, it became his life passion. Already as a junior, he won senior Polish DN Championships in 1972. Then he achieved many more successes in ice-sailing, among which there were three bronze medals in DN World Championships and a golden medal in DN European Championships in 1993. For most of his sailing career he represented the AZS Olsztyn sailing club.
After finishing his career as a competitor, he devoted himself to work for the ice-sailing community, which included being a board member of IDNYIRA-Europe and leading the Professional Race Committee that conducts the main ice-sailing events: DN World and European Championships. Stan also tried to spread his passion for ice-sailing to young people. For many years he was the IDNYIRA-Europe Junior Programme Manager and also worked as a trainer.
His professional life was also connected to sailing, as he constructed boats and other sailing equipment. Even though ice-sailing was his life passion, he was first of all devoted to his family and friends. He valued time spent together and his closest ones -wife Joanna and daughters Kasia, Julia and Sylwia; could always count on him.
Stan, thank you for all your contributions. We will miss you a lot.
The funeral will be held on July 27th 2024 in Olsztyn, starting at 12 pm in St. Francis Church (Olsztyn/Kortowo), and then at the Communal Cementery Poprzeczna in Olsztyn.