Though a Canadian, 'Dick' Sandwell was elected as a Squadron member because he had been born in the UK. He was proposed by the Earl of Malmesbury.
He was an active yachtsman his entire life and always owned wooden boats. These included the 1937 built Knut Reimers designed Gabrielle II, succeeded in 1967 by the S&S designed Gabrielle III which he campaigned actively in the Victoria, British Columbia-Maui race (1968) the Sydney Hobart Race (1968) and Cowes Week / Fastnet in 1969. He then did the Skaw race, Gotland Rundt and Plymouth–La Rochelle in 1970 and 1971 until retiring from yacht racing that year.
He wrote two books – one called ‘Offshore' describing his racing experiences, and one called ‘North of Anian’ describing his annual cruises, lasting many years, off the coast of British Columbia. A copy of these books were given to the RYS library.
He was a history buff of some note, to the extent that he was awarded an Honorary Doctorate by Simon Fraser University in Vancouver for his study of Capt James Cook. His annual voyages up the BC coast always including visits to islands and inlets charted by Cook and his incredible knowledge of the subject made these cruises legendary. In this respect, he collected and put together the world’s only comprehensive, privately owned collection of the three complete voyages of discovery undertaken by Capt Cook.
He was the stepfather of Esben Poulsson (RYS member elected in 1998).