Former British Marine president, David Lewin has died after a long, hard fought illness at the age of 79.
David entered the marine industry in 1979 co-founding the Splashdown clothing brand, prior to which he was a production engineer in the fashion business.
In an interview with Kim Hollamby for Metstrade in 2018, David explained that he didn’t like working with people in the fashion trade because of the sleeze that was going on at the time, however all he knew was making clothing and what he enjoyed doing was sailing and skiing.
The pairing led to the launch of Splashdown with two friends, with the company receiving its first major breakthrough three years later when it was chosen to make the clothing for Peter de Savary’s Victory America’s Cup Challenge in 1982.
“We had a great time introducing colour and design to what were then fairly drab monochrome ‘oilies’,” said David.
Diversifying into industries with a boating connection
In 1987, David attended his first Metstrade with the ambition of expanding the export side of the business to continue to grow the company.
Splashdown was sold in 1995 to Chemring with David leaving the company the following year to run the UK arm of Compass24.com, prior to conducting a management buyout of Flag Paints where he stayed for 11 years.
“One of the reasons Chemring bought Splashdown was that we had some very good and clever technical designs for horse riding (derived from sailing) which they wanted to incorporate into their Toggi range,” said David.
The team managed to ride the economic crash of September 2008 with the company enjoying good growth in the following years when the marine industry recovered.
“For a short while I was also sales director of Toggi. The outcome of all this was that I now knew as much about the leisure boating industry as I did about clothing – and boats were a lot more interesting than clothing, so I diversified into other industries with a boating connection.”
A sceptic about Brexit, David was thrilled that the boatbuilding industry was enjoying renewed growth but remained wary about the situation in Britain.
He told Kim in his interview: “The boatbuilding industry has suddenly come back, it’s unbelievable what is happening.
“That’s great, but at home, apart from the golden horseshoe around the Solent, I don’t get a good feeling about how it’s panning out around the rest of Britain, with Brexit posing such uncertainty.”
Fun is important
His time at Flag coincided with more than 20 years as UK representative for Naviline Industries / Malvaux Marine and nine years as a UK agent for lifejacket manufacturer Secumar, followed by ten years as chairman at Hudson Wight Performance Sailware from 2015 to 2025.
“I have got to the ripe old age where I don’t need to do anything if I don’t want to, but working as its UK agent has been so much fun – I’m back in! Fun is important,” he said at the time.
In 2010, David founded David Lewin Consulting carrying out marketing for the marine industry with his very long list of contacts.
Never one to sit on his laurels, David was a key member of the marine business advisory group Global Marine Business Advisors (GMBA) for five years from 2020 to 2025.
In 2022, David was presented with the British Marine Trades Association Export Award for GMBA by Suzanne Blaustone, CEO of Barton Marine.
Sincere and caring individual
“David touched so many lives from his Splashdown days when I first met him, and then at Flagg Paints where their coating formulations provided new protection for multiple marine surfaces,” said Suzanne.
“He was on the British Marine Board of Managers, he served as president of the board and then vice president of ICOMIA and supported National Boat Shows during those iconic days at Earls Court and Excel in the 1990s and 2000s.”
She added: “It was my absolute honour to present David with the 2022 MTA Export Award for the Global Marine Business Advisors following his keen founding support of the organisation and accelerated their representation worldwide.
“He was an honest cornerstone of our trade and a sincere and caring individual. He was a lovely man and friend – and he will be missed in so many ways and our thoughts are with his lovely wife Melanie and the family he adored.”
Throughout his career in the marine industry, David remained realistic stating: “You hope to make a lot of money, but let’s be straight, an awful lot of us don’t make a lot of money in boating related businesses.
“It’s a small industry in real terms, but you do it for the lifestyle and the lovely people you meet.”
He added: “You need to enjoy it because if you don’t, you’d be much better off going into the real world and doing something else, like selling toilet rolls. Enjoyment is where the energy comes from.”
Always looking forward
Outside of his marine roles, David was keen to support the wider marine industry spending many years as a non executive director for marine industry association British Marine, as vice chairman of National Boat Shows and also two years as president of the association.
In addition, he was vice chairman of ICOMIA, representing the organisation for five years and was a non-executive member of the Royal Yachting Association for 14 years.
Outside of work, David was a keen sailor based on the UK’s South Coast, and a keen participant of midweek evening races with his local club, crewing with Graham Brown of SeaSure for many years.
“He was a gentleman of the industry, always positive, always looking forward,” said Graham.
“He always had a tale to tell about his past escapades, he was a great guy to have on board.”
“I’m a great believer in that the best cure for mental tiredness and stress is to take up a completely different activity that gives you no time to think about your problems,” explained David.
