Eight Bells: 1984 Gold Cup Champ Tiit Hagma

by Deb Whitehorse | May 29, 2021 | 2021, Home Page

Via Mihkel Kosk C45 and Ron Sherry US44.
Estonian DN sailor, Tiit Hagma C10, passed away peacefully at home on 28 May 2021. Tiit won the 1984 DN Gold Cup sailed at Krynica Morska in Poland. The regatta is memorable for a field of 240 competitors, certainly one of the largest DN championships in history. Ron Sherry US44 remembers “driving back to the hotel with him in 1984 in Poland to pick up some Boston Sails. He was so calm and matter of fact. I told him if I had won, I would be like a NASA Launch.”

Mihkel Kosk recalls Tiit’s life outside of DN sailing, “The big thing that he was also a great talent in music and in the USSR time a part and member of a band Ruja. Ruja was as popular in Estonia as the Rolling Stones were in the states and very much on the legal line with the USSR officials!”
Read more about his music here.

Via the Kalevi Yacht Club:

Tiit Haagma, an honorary member of the club, has left us. Tiit was born on April 5, 1954, in Tallinn. He started sailing in 1961 under the supervision of Enn Metsar. Tiit was brought to ice sailing by another legendary Star sailor, Peeter Leola. For many years, ice sailing became the main area of ​​Tiit. In 1984 he won the world championship title in the DN class as the third Estonian ice sailor; five years later, he won a bronze medal at the European Championships; in 1989, he added a World Championship silver to his medal collection. At the N Union Championships, he won a bronze medal in 1979 and 1980, a gold medal in 1982 and 1986 and a silver medal in 1983, and a silver medal in 1983. Tiit has won silver at the 1991 World Yacht Regatta and bronze at the 2007 ORC World Sailing Championships in sailing. Tiit has once (1986) become the Estonian master in ice sailing and seven times in 1988-2004 in offshore sailing. In 2007, he also became a Finnish champion in offshore sailing. In 1979, Tiit became a champion in sailing and, in 1984, a master in ice sailing. In the same year, he was chosen as the best male athlete in Estonia and an honorary member of Kalev. Tiit was also a renowned musician; he played bass guitar in the bands Varjud and Ruja in 1972-1986. From 1973 to 1986, Tiit worked as a trainer in sailing and ice sailing circles, and for 40 years, he was known not only for his sailing skills but especially as a worthy sailor. His sewn C-sails, WB sails, and HT sails have taken our sailors and ice sailors to both Estonian championship and title medals. Tiit was a nice companion, with whom it was always nice to talk, and every time he had a new anecdote or a nice story to tell. The spinning material no longer scratches under Tiit’s hand, and his ¼ ton Sea Eagle has been standing sadly on the shore for some time. We mourn you and wish you a happy wind on the sea of ​​eternity, Tiit.