Stellar Sailors Acknowledged

The 94-year-old Cruising Club of America has announced the winners of its five major achievement awards for 2015. We’ll spotlight three of them here.

The Rod Stephens Award for Outstanding Seamanship: You may recall reading in ‘Lec Lat about the heroics of Alberta, Canada-based cruisers George Juri and Grit Chiu of the Hunter 50 Escape, who rescued a 46-year-old Thai mariner from storm-tossed seas in Malaysia last summer and nursed him back to health. After falling off a barge, he had drifted for four days, while being battered by 15-ft waves and 30-knot winds, as fish nibbled away at his flesh. George and Grit put their lifesaving training to the test, and once they had the weary survivor aboard, Grit, a surgical nurse by profession, brought him back from the brink of death.

The Richard S. Nye Trophy: John E. Sanford of Tiburon, Calif., was cited for "meritorious service to the CCA and the San Francisco Station [one of 11 in the US, Canada and Bermuda] over a period of 34 years, continuously participating in CCA activities since becoming a member in 1981, including as Rear Commodore of CCA’s San Francisco station."

The Far Horizon Award: Kaspar and Trisha Schibli of Victoria, BC, were acknowledged for their extensive adventuring under sail aboard their 53-ft wooden yawl Starfire. Having already completed a five-year, 50,000-mile, westabout circumnavigation from 1993-1998 (via Suez and Panama), they set off again in 2005. This time, they dove down the Pacific Coast to Cape Horn, then up the Atlantic to Europe, where they have been exploring Northern Europe — including the far north — ever since.

In addition to its role co-hosting the Newport Bermuda Race (in even-numbered years), the Cruising Club of America "is dedicated to offshore cruising, voyaging and the ‘adventurous use of the sea’ through efforts to improve seamanship, the design of seaworthy yachts, safe yachting procedures and environmental awareness." Learn more about this highly respected organization here.