The CCA’s 2024 Awards
The Cruising Club of America (CCA) today announced its annual awards, led by Leiv Poncet earning the prestigious Blue Water Medal and accompanying five additional sailors who have “completed circumnavigations and other rigorous bluewater passages, provided technical and design innovation for other sailors, and contributed throughout the sailing community.”
Along with the Blue Water Medal, the CCA conferred the Rod Stephens Seamanship Trophy to Carter Bacon; the Young Voyager Award to Cole Brauer; the Far Horizons Award to Finley H. Perry Jr.; the Diana Russell Award to Nigel Calder; and the Richard S. Nye Trophy to William Cook.
Here’s more on each from the CCA’s release about the awards:
Leiv Poncet at Kodiak Island, Alaska, preparing to clean his catch.
Photo courtesy of Leiv Poncet and CCA
The Blue Water Medal: Leiv Poncet of the Falkland Islands earned the Blue Water Medal, first established in 1923 to honor “exceptional seamanship by amateur sailors of all nations.” Poncet joins the likes of Eric and Susan Hiscock and Jean-Luc Van Den Heede, and he becomes the only medal winner whose parents won it previously: “Jerome and Sally Poncet earned the award in 1992 for their pioneering liveaboard voyaging in Antarctica and their publication of a handbook of voyaging in the region.”
Poncet’s “dedication to exploring the world’s most remote and challenging locations without fanfare exemplifies the spirit of this award…[his] remarkable solo voyages over the past 25 years include his circumnavigation of the Southern Ocean, voyages from the Falkland Islands to the Aleutian Islands, and remarkable, first-ever, high-latitude sea-kayaking trips. His sailing achievements are further highlighted by his use of the 38-foot steel sloop, Peregrine, a French Trireme model, which has taken him to places like South Georgia and beyond. Throughout his sailing career, Poncet has not only demonstrated exceptional seamanship but also contributed to scientific research by using Peregrine as a base for ornithologists and other scientists.”
Rod Stephens Seamanship Trophy: Carter Bacon of Cambridge, Massachusetts, earned this award for his “his meritorious handling of the sinking of his classic 50-foot K. Aage Nielsen sloop Solution during the return sail after the 2024 Newport Bermuda Race. The CCA annually awards the Rod Stephens Seamanship Trophy to a sailor ‘for an act of seamanship which significantly contributes to the safety of a yacht, or one or more individuals at sea'.
Homebound from Bermuda, Carter Bacon aboard Solution on July 1, 2024.
Courtest of Carter Bacon and CCA
“Abandoning one’s 60-year-old yacht after 24 years and numerous voyages, including several races to Bermuda and a transatlantic crossing, is a difficult decision to make—comparable to losing a family member. Bacon put his crew’s safety first and foremost, which he is quick to say was an easy decision for him. For what is all too often a dangerous and chaotic event, in a carefully orchestrated manner and with expert support from the U.S. Coast Guard, Bacon and his crew abandoned Solution 200 miles off Cape Cod, bringing everyone home safely.”
Cole Brauer celebrates rounding the Horn during the Global Solo Challenge.
Photo by Cole Brauer
Young Voyager Award: Cole Brauer of Newport, Rhode Island, in 2024 at 29 years old became the first American woman to sail solo around the world nonstop, finishing second in the Global Solo Challenge aboard her Class40 First Light. “More than half of Brauer’s competitors were unable to finish the race, which required sailing south around Africa, over to Australia, and across the Pacific Ocean to South America before returning north to Spain. Challenges she faced included injuring her rib after being thrown around by a massive wave, becoming severely dehydrated, and handling many boat repairs—all while informing and entertaining a social media audience that soared to nearly half a million.”
Fin Perry aboard Elskov bound for Newfoundland in 2007.
Photo courtesy of Fin Perry and CCA
Far Horizons Award: Finlay H. Perry Jr. of Hopkinton, Massachusetts, earned this award—the CCA’s “premier sailing honor for a member” which “recognizes the sailing achievements of someone who has embarked on a cruise or series of cruises that demonstrate the broader objectives of the Club, including the adventurous use of the sea.”
“After a couple decades of cruising from Maine to Newfoundland in his 1949 Hinckley Sou’wester 34, Perry purchased an Aage Nielsen 46 named Elskov in 1998 and sailed her from Maine to Denmark, and up the coast of Norway to Tromsø. He sailed to Spitzbergen in 2003, reaching 80 degrees north latitude, then crossed to Iceland, southern Greenland, and Labrador.
“In 2006, Perry cruised the west coast of Greenland, past Disko Bay to Uummannaq Fjord at 71 north latitude, then crossed Davis Strait and explored uncharted Hoare Bay on the Cumberland Peninsula of east Baffin Island. Another notable voyage, in 2013, covered 3,000 miles from Baddeck, Nova Scotia, into Hudson Strait as far as Kinngait (formerly Cape Dorset) at the southwest tip of Baffin Island. The area had been explored, and places named, by Martin Frobisher, John Davis, Henry Hudson, and a few others searching for a northwest passage to Asia in the late 1500s and early 1600s, but has been little visited in the years since.”
Nigel Calder charts his route through the Faroe Islands in 2012.
Photo courtesy of Nigel Calder and CCA
Diana Russell Award: Nigel Calder of Damariscotta, Maine, (a SAIL contributing editor) earned this honor “for his extensive knowledge, research, development, and production of advanced electrical systems for yachts.” Established in 2022, the award “recognizes a CCA member for innovation in sailing design, methodology, education, training, safety, and the adventurous use and enjoyment of the sea. Calder’s achievements exemplify the spirit of this award, and the CCA is honored to acknowledge his contributions.
“Calder is renowned in the marine industry for his pioneering work and dedication to improving the safety, efficiency, and reliability of yacht electrical systems. He has played a pivotal role in the development of standards for boat electrical and propulsion systems for the American Boat and Yacht Council in the United States and for similar organizations and authorities in Europe.”
Bill Cook on a 2010 northern voyage.
Photo courtesy of Bill Cook and CCA
Richard S. Nye Trophy: William E. “Bill” Cook earned this award that is “given at the discretion of the governing board…for bringing distinction to the Club by meritorious service, outstanding seamanship, outstanding performance in cruising and racing, international yachting statesmanship, or any combination of these accomplishments.
“Cook has had a distinguished career in yacht design. His IOR designs have won multiple championships and offshore regattas. His design of the New York 36 resulted in a class of more than 60 boats. Matador 2 was a novel design that won the world maxi championships three years in a row. The 53-foot Whizzbang was a different sort of champion, a pure cruiser in the form of a versatile motorsailer that crossed the Atlantic and back.
Bill Cook's Endeavour cruising north in 2003. Cook won the CCA's Richard S. Nye Trophy for his accomplishments as a designer and bluewater sailor.
Photo courtesy of Bill Cook and CCA
“Cook’s own sailing accomplishments include multiple cruises in Europe and high-latitude waters. Within the CCA, he has served with distinction as rear commodore of the Boston Station and for extended terms as chairman of the membership and awards committees. He has also served as chairman of Mystic Seaport Museum and is a founder of the Cape Cod Maritime Museum.”
For more on each of these winners and the CCA visit cruisingclub.org.
January 2025
