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General Ken Roper passed away on Dec 27, 2025

Very sorry to hear this. As a newbie competitor in the 14 SHTP, he was very encouraging and fun to talk to on the ssb very night at check-in. We had our own personal race going and sailed close together for much of the race. Salute to a good man.
 
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What a guy. I smile every time Ken's name is mentioned. I met him at Marina Village before the race in 2004. I went in without support, walking the docks to find Harrier and to meet "The General." I was promptly invited aboard and soon learned some of his background. At one point I interrupted him with a naive question: "So you really ARE a general?" His answer was loud enough to make me jump: "FUCKIN' A!"

A race or two later I found him an AIS receiver from England (they weren't affordable here yet). Ken used his ample skills to add a loud, warbling alarm which would wake him when it picked up a ship, no matter how much vodka he'd had before dinner - he once explained that vodka was the only "pure" spirit.

Later, I would join a long line of SHTP inspectors who earned his wrath. "More Hoops!" was his mantra (and he was right). Among other things, he wanted to use his one-man aircraft inflatable as his life raft. After a boat lost its rig in the 2008 race, I added a requirement for a pre-race rigging inspection. Since Ken had an engineering degree from Caltech, he insisted he could do his own inspection. "And besides, what qualifies someone to be a rigger?" Another exchange had to do with his SHTP rating. He showed why (with enough decimal places in the calculation) Harrier's rating should be rounded up, but it had been rounded down for the previous race. And on it went - I think he had a list of stuff to challenge each successive SHTP Chair.

But there wasn't one of us who regretted seeing his entry form come in. It's a well-worn phrase and true here: The General's participation is woven into the fabric of the SHTP. We should name one of the perpetuals in his honor.
 
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Thank you Brian! Ken was a dear friend, not only to me, but the entire SHTP tribe. Ken really did carry a golf club bag of tiller pilots in the quarter berth. He usually finished SHTP with an hour glassed or wrapped spinnaker, Not a bad method of reefing downwind, His friends would spend the next morning unwrapping things while Ken caught up with his family on shore. They broke the mold when they made the General. Fair Winds, Brother
 
The story I hear and assume true, was he was responsible for getting parts and supplies to the troops. He requested a jeep and when the Army do not give him one he had one build for him from the supply parts…Now that’s the story of a singlehanded sailor….
 
A fascinating story General Roper related to me was of an assignment he took on while the commander of an Army Air Calvary Division. He was tasked with escorting a young reporter on a tour of a live battle zone in Vietnam. He knew of a scheduled B52 bomb drop on a nearby ridge. Gathering his UH-1 crew, and escorting the reporter aboard the aircraft, one Dan Rather, Ken piloted the Huey into a location near the drop zone. With the UH-1 doors open they witnessed the munitions pounding the terrain. He said the explosions of ordinance violently rocked the Huey and heated air roared thru the open doors and windows. Mr. Rather walked away badly rattled with the experience.
 
Thanks Brian.
I enjoyed racing Ken a few times. We were always in the same division with similar speeds. Usually in VHF range. After the SSB roll calls we would go off "frequency" and chat for hours. I know that before (and during my time) he would do the same with my friend Greg Morris of "Slip Stream" and then "Color Blind" Good times great memories. RIP Ken.
 
He was a real hero of mine and a truly unlikely friend. Straggley headed teepee dweller meets the military brass. Once when we sat together while some speechifying was going on, the speaker, raving about the race to Kauai said, “ this is greatest adventure of your life blah blah blah.” Ken leaned over and whispered to me, “ if this is the greatest adventure of your life you haven’t had much of a life.”
Rest in peace Ken
 
Sorry to hear this. Indeed an icon. I got to meet Ken through the SHTP and crossed wakes with him in a few of the Hawaii races. Back when there was an SSB net during the races, he was always good for a humorous chat with sharp wit. I’m glad I was able to know him. Fair winds and following seas…
 
I met the General just before the 2012 SHTP, and after that because he needed parts for his Atoms wind vane. Our politics were a bit different and we had a few 'spirited' discussions, peppered by his quick character. "I know where I was on 7 November 1973!" The 2014 SHTP start involved some rough seas - I thought I was going to lose my dodger to wave strikes. A day and a half in, during our radio check-in, I asked Ken - almost 30 years older than me and in a smaller boat - how he had fared and he said (tongue-in-cheek, I'm sure): ~"I did what I always do when it's like that; I set my course, trimmed my sails, and cowered in my bunk." I'm glad for our times together, and to have his notes and signatures on my SHTP start photos.
 
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