Sailors Honoured for Distinguished Service at US Sailing Awards Dinner

A remarkable list of contributors to sailing in the U.S. were presented with US Sailing's highest honours during Friday night's Awards Dinner, presented by Rolex, at the Hilton Milwaukee City Center. US Sailing recognized these esteemed award winners for their extraordinary achievements in the areas of sailing education, race administration and operations, sailing with disability, safety, sportsmanship, and overall contributions to the sailing.

• Stan Honey (Palo Alto, Calif.) received the prestigious Nathanael G. Herreshoff Trophy for his outstanding contributions to the sport of sailing.

• Severn Sailing Association (Annapolis, MD) received the St. Petersburg Yacht Club Trophy for excellence in race management.

• Arthur O'Neill (Swampscott, Mass.) received the Gay S. Lynn Memorial Trophy for his outstanding contributions to sailors with disabilities.

• Bruce Cook (Bayville, N.Y.) received the Harman Hawkins Award for the major role he has played in the advancement of race administration.

• Joanne Dorval (Arlington, Va.) received the Timothea Larr Award for her outstanding contributions to the advancement of sailor education in the U.S.

• Peter Frey (Keyser, W.Va.) received the W. Van Alan Clark, Jr. Trophy for his exemplary display and promotion of sportsmanship.

• Katie Ouellette (Portsmouth, R.I.) received the President's Award for her efforts as the event planner for several US Sailing special events, including the National Conference/Annual Meeting, National Sailing Program Symposium (NSPS), Sailing Leadership Forum, and Yacht Club Summit.

Stan Honey – Nathanael G. Herreshoff Trophy

US Sailing's 2010 Rolex Yachtsman of the Year Award winner has a long and impressive list of offshore sailing accomplishments. Beyond his record-breaking ocean racing performances as a competitor, Honey is a sailing technology pioneer, not only in terms of his boat speed calculations and determinations, but his work in presenting sailing as visually understandable and easy to follow sport through television and other video platforms.

Honey co-founded Sportvision in 1998, a company that offers live-tracking enhancements. He started SailMail Association, which provides onboard email to cruising sailors anywhere on the oceans. Honey served as Director of Technology for the 34th America's Cup and has won three Emmys for technical innovation.

He served on the US Sailing Board of Directors from 2009 to 2012 and contributes to rating rule developments on the HPR Committee of the ORA. He is Vice-Chair of the ISAF Oceanic and Offshore Committee.

"He blends art and science to transform weather forecasts into boat speed," said presenter Tom Hubbell, President of US Sailing. "Off the water, he is a digital conjurer, making lines appear on open water, and aerodynamic turbulence visible as a blue mist bubbling off a leech of a wing sail. He has also made sailboat racing visually understandable to non-sailors."

Severn Sailing Association – St. Petersburg Trophy

The St. Petersburg Yacht Club Trophy is awarded to Severn Sailing Association (Annapolis, Md.) in recognition of its excellent planning and execution of the 2014 Olivia's Team Racing Invitational Regatta, held in Annapolis on August 23-24, 2014.

Established in 2013 by family and friends, Olivia's Team Racing Regatta honours the memory of Olivia Constants, a 14-year-old sailor who died in an accident during sailing practice in 2011.

This is a particularly appropriate award, not only because it celebrates the spirit of a beloved youth sailor, but also because it reflects the growing awareness that a variety of racing formats is essential to keep the sport vibrant and to attract new sailors. The organizers set out to create a regatta that recognized and promoted what Olivia loved most about sailing: fun, inclusiveness, team racing and great family parties. Comments from competitors consistently emphasized how much fun the event was. Olivia's Regatta used a team race format with rotating teams, in which sailors were paired with a variety of competing sailors, ages 11-72, over the course of 132 races in two days. Participants ranged from first- time racers to national team racing champions.

At a time when event organizers are thinking about how to attract a greater variety of participants, Severn seems to have hit upon a successful formula. "While most events prioritize fairness and predictability to crown a worthy champion, we decided to encourage randomness and chance so that everyone, from the most experienced team racers to complete novices, would be able to have a good time and claim wins along the way," wrote the regatta's organizers.

Arthur O'Neill – Gay S. Lynn Memorial Trophy

Arthur O'Neill has worked for the Carroll Center for the Blind in the greater Boston, Mass. area since the 1970s. O'Neill established the Carroll Center's Outdoor Enrichment Program, an accessible recreation program.

Initially, he helped to introduce activities like hiking, skiing and cycling to the program. An avid sailor, O'Neill introduced sailing to the visually impaired in 1979. Through O'Neill's guidance and encouragement, blind sailing has grown from an experiment to a sport that includes participants throughout the country and around the world. Now named SailBlind, the program features both recreational and racing activities, using sailboats from the Courageous Sailing Center in Charlestown, Mass.

O'Neill utilizes a teaching technique that adds a sighted guide to the crew, who is trained by the SailBlind staff so that the boat can be navigated on a safe course. The blind skipper, with the assistance of a sighted guide, is now able to concentrate on what sailing is all about, including the feel of the boat in relation to changes in both wind direction and speed, wind pressure on the sails, and driving the boat.

Arthur is now retired from the Carroll Center but still remains active in the SailBlind Program. He is currently writing a manual for teaching the blind or visually impaired how to sail.

"The blind, and especially those who lost their vision during their lifetime, lose a great deal of control over their lives, resulting in the dependence of other people," said O'Neill. "When a blind person, or for that matter any disabled individual, is able to control the direction and speed of a sailboat, it helps to regain some of that lost control."

Bruce Cook – Harman Hawkins Trophy

Bruce Cook's involvement in the advancement of race administration has been well documented. Cook is an International Judge and Umpire. He has been a member of the Review Board and is a past Area Representative for the U.S. Match Racing Championship. Cook has served as judge or umpire at numerous Olympic Trials, World Championships and Tour Match Racing events throughout his career. He also served as Chief Judge and or Chief Umpire at many national championships.

Cook is a volunteer and mentor at Oakcliff Sailing Center, where for the past four years he has taken the lead on organizing umpires for the 18 to 20 match racing events the centre runs each summer. He runs umpire and judges seminars each year, significantly building the pool of local officials.

Cook has served on at least 10 US Sailing committees. He has instructed nearly 30 race management, judge and umpire seminars and workshops since 2003. Cook also serves as Staff Commodore of Seawanhaka Corinthian Yacht Club in Oyster Bay, N.Y.

"I am personally aware of a tremendous amount of time, effort and knowledge Bruce has put into the sport behind the scenes," said Dave Perry. "He is always available to talk, problem solve and lend his wisdom, and is an invaluable resource for all judges and umpires."

Joanne Dorval - Timothea Larr Award

Joanne Dorval has been a strong advocate for boating safety throughout her distinguished career. Beyond her duties as Vice President at Metcor, Dorval has played an instrumental role in supporting US Sailing's training programs.

She has championed the grant writing process with notable success. This process includes drafting, editing, and revising grant proposals to the US Coast Guard Boating Safety Office. She has educated key members of the USCG about the unique value in collaborating with the leader of on-the-water training of boaters and sailors in the U.S. By serving on Grant Oversight Committees, she ensures that US Sailing's perspective on boating safety is learned, understood and respected.

Joanne played a major role in the leadership of a national effort to create universally accepted standards for on-the-water training by developing complex procedures to comply with ANSI (American National Standards Institute) standards and ensuring excellent communication, cooperation and consensus among all partners involved. This grant process has been a success for four years running. This effort will change the way boaters are prepared for boating in the U.S. and has successfully included all the major boating safety players, for profit and not for profit alike.

Peter Frey - W. Van Alan Clark, Jr. Trophy

The entire Laser fleet and the Deep Creek Yacht Racing Association, which organizes and governs racing on Deep Creek Lake, nominated Peter Frey for this prestigious sportsmanship recognition. Frey has raced his Laser on the lake for over 25 years. He has inspired and set an example for countless junior sailors and sets high standards of sportsmanship both on and off the water. He often sacrifices his own racing to help others and is the first to congratulate others on their racing accomplishments.

Comments from one young adult sailor in the fleet echoed the theme of Peter's enduring and consistent commitment to the values of sportsmanship.

"Looking back over this year's racing season, I couldn't think of a better fit for this award than Peter Frey. On and off the water, Peter is a great guy. He is always encouraging us to get out and have a great time, but to do what we're comfortable with. After a good day racing he comes in grinning, whether he did well or not, saying how much fun it is to have such a competitive group of sailors. In previous years, as I was learning to sail, Peter always made me feel comfortable with racing, simply by having a polite conservation about the races afterwards. Peter helped me have a smooth transition from the junior fleet to the open fleet this year, and is always showing his confidence in my ability to handle the boat. He helped me feel more comfortable with the switch."