FALMOUTH sailor Jeff Martin has died during a family skiing holiday after suffering a heart attack.

Jeff, who was a cornerstone of Laser events in the town for more than 40 years, is believed to have had a heart attack and then fallen 30 feet from a moving ski lift in France.

Emergency services were called at 12.20pm on Friday to the Roc-de-Tougne lift.

Resuscitation attempts lasted for more than half an hour but Mr Martin was pronounced dead at the scene.

An inquiry has been opened to determine the cause of death.

Jeff, aged 65, acted as chairman of the World Sailing Classes Committee and sat on World Sailing's Council for many years and was a respected and valued committee member.

His dedication to the sport of sailing was unparalleled, having served as the Executive Secretary of the International Laser Class Association for 40 years.

He was a cornerstone of Laser events, having worked at every Laser Open World Championship except the first one in 1974 where he was a competitor.

Jeff, who was a highly experienced yachtsman, was executive secretary of the International Laser Class Association, with 200,000 yachts worldwide in 140 countries. He ran the organisation with a small staff from an office in Church Street, Falmouth.

A member of the International Sailing Federation, he was also a Royal Cornwall Yacht Club member with more than 30 years experience, running major sailing events.

He was an obvious choice at the beginning of 2009 to be invited to create and lead a team to run the Laser racing at the 2012 Olympics.

In 2009 Jeff recruited John Pickup, who was race officer for the J Class regatta earlier this year. At the Olympics he was responsible for displaying the official race flags on the committee boat.