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The Ocean Cruising Club Announces Awards for 2019
The
Ocean Cruising Club (OCC) has announced the recipients of awards that recognise
achievements in ocean sailing over the past 24 months. The recipients were
selected by an international panel of experienced bluewater sailors from among individuals
nominated by Full OCC members throughout the course of the year.
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The Barton Cup, the Club’s premiere
award, goes to American sailor Randall Reevesfor his successful
completion of the Figure 8 Voyage, an exceptional and record-breaking voyage
circumnavigating Antarctica and the Americas in one season. His tenacity and
perseverance were exhibited when, aborting attempt number one, he returned home
to San Francisco and departed to try again a few months later. Most
importantly, his adventure was undertaken with much humility, humour and
gratitude.
Randall's
first attempt (October 2017 to June 2018) ended in an abrupt termination of
plans in 2018. On that trip, he suffered three knockdowns in the Southern Ocean
and limped into Ushuaia, then continued on to Tasmania where repair work was
undertaken. That resulted in the 'loss of the season' for that attempt. But
that didn't stop him. By October 2018, he was on his way again.
On the 19th of October 2019, Randall Reeves and s/v Moli completed the
Figure 8 Voyage, a circumnavigation of Antarctica and the Americas in one
season, solo, a first-ever in sailing. Randall sailed more than 40,000 miles in
just over one year alone, rounding Cape Horn twice and completing the Northwest
Passage in the same trip. He had to carry enough food for the entire journey,
although it was never intended to be completed nonstop. He had to keep moving
the entire time to ensure that his timing at critical points was within the
seasonal limits of sailing in the region. The planning and seamanship that went
into the voyage were painstaking. He wrote beautifully about his experience in
his blog engaging his virtual stowaways as part of his team. Mission
accomplished on the second attempt. |
Eleven-time
circumnavigator, Australian Jon Sanders, takes home the OCC Lifetime
Cruising Award. Jon
is a CCA Blue Water Medal recipient, was awarded the AO OBE and Chichester
Award in 1983, was inducted into the Australian Sailing Hall of Fame 1989 for
"service to sailing and to marine science" and the Single-handed
Sailor's Hall of Fame in Newport USA. Jon has received the James Cook award and
is an Honorary Member of the OCC.
Jon
completed his first solo circumnavigation in 1975-77, double circumnavigation
continuously at sea in 1981-82 west to east via the Southern Ocean and was the
first man to circumnavigate the Antarctic solo. In 1986-88 he completed a
triple non-stop solo circumnavigation in 658 days at sea and covering 71,022
nautical miles. His only contact with the outside world was electronic communications
and some parcels thrown from passing boats. This is recognised in the Guinness
Book of Records as the longest distance sailed non-stop by any vessel. He
undertook another circumnavigation in 1990-91 and in 2010-12 did his 8th,
2013-15 completed his 9th, and in 2016-17 completed his 10th. Not one to rest
on his laurels, on 3 November 2019, aged 80 (born 1939), he began his 11th solo
#NOPLASTICWASTE circumnavigation on Perie Banou II, taking water samples
daily which will be analysed by the Curtin University’s Western Australian
Organic & Isotope Geochemistry Centre to determine the quantity of
microplastics in our oceans. Jon’s sailing resume is unmatched in the cruising
world. |
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The OCC Seamanship
Award is presented to Germany’s Susanne Huber-Curphy. prior winner of the
Barton Cup, for her completion of The Longue Route in memory of the 50th
anniversary of Bernard Moitessier's epic voyage aboard Joshua in the
Golden Globe Race which he could have won but instead continued sailing another
halfway around the world 'to save his soul'. Some 11 sailors took part in The
Longue Route commemoration, each leaving from a different port on their own
schedule. All but Susanne completed at most circumnavigations. Instead, Susanne
kept sailing to replicate Moitessier's voyage of sailing 1.5 times around the
earth. He sailed England to Tahiti, she completed Maine to Tasmania. Susanne
had sailed a total of 33,043 in 251 days aboard Nehaj, during which she
may have become the first woman to complete a circumnavigation of Antarctica
solo nonstop en route. |
For an outstanding
voyage around the Americas, Steve Brown receives The Vasey Vase. This award, which
salutes an unusual or exploratory voyage or series of voyages made by members
and, in this case, for an outstanding voyage circumnavigating the two Americas
- 32,950 nm, taking in 175 anchorages with multiple crews over five years -
which included the Northwest Passage, Antarctica and South Georgia. Steve’s
nominator noted, ‘A well-executed, well-completed, successful voyage
encompassing several outstanding achievements in their own right.’
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The
OCC Jester Award goes to Dan Stroud who is sailing
around the world in a 31ft Rustler. This award, named after Blondie Hasler’s
iconic Folkboat Jester, recognises a noteworthy singlehanded voyage or
series of voyages made in a small vessel. Our panel of judges were extremely
impressed by Dan’s singlehanded, low tech cruise from the UK to South Africa.
He started a circumnavigation in the spirit of challenge and adventure, but his
reasons have changed during his time underway. By the time he reached the North
Pacific via Ushuaia and the Marquesas, he was feeling he'd had enough. But the logical
option was to continue westward – so now he is completing the circumnavigation
to return home. He keeps everything simple and low key, with just the basic
necessities on board, few electronics or gadgets, and no fridge or shower.
The OCC Award, which recognises
valuable service to the ocean cruising community as a whole, is awarded to Riley
Whitelum and Elayna Carauso, the husband and wife team behind the hugely
popular vlog Sailing La Vagabonde with 1.29M subscribers on YouTube. Their
YouTube channel has been phenomenally successful and has inspired large numbers
of cruisers to follow in their 81,000-mile wake. This supports the OCC’s
primary purpose of encouraging long-distance sailing in small boats.
Their
nominator wrote, “They have done more to inspire others to try sailing than
just about anyone before them and have made cruising under sail an affordable
and sustainable alternative lifestyle option. They’ve been filming it all on
YouTube since 2014. They've been featured regularly not only in the sailing
press but also have been interviewed by many general-interest media outlets
including CNN and the Guardian. They now have a sailing tutorial that teaches
people how to go about learning to sail.” |
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The
OCC Award for service to the OCC is shared in a tie vote between Jenny
Crickmore-Thompson and Frances Rennie. Jenny, who serves currently
as Rear Commodore, was responsible for organising and managing the Port Officer
network around the world for seven years. Frances, who has been the
administrator for the OCC Facebook page where almost one-third of our members communicate
frequently, has been an untiring moderator and highly respected and dedicated
face of OCC to the membership.
Eoin
Robson, Awards Chairman, thanks the international panel of judges who form the OCC
Awards Subcommittee. “The selection process was challenging this year, as it is
in many years, owing to the high quality and diversity of nominations.”
Commodore
Simon Currin congratulates all award winners and thanks all members who nominated such
worthy recipients. “I look forward to meeting personally many of these
exceptional sailors at the OCC AGM and Awards Dinner in Annapolis this April,
when for the first time the event will be held in North America.”
Winners’
bios and high-resolution photos will be made available upon request. As some of
the recipients are currently at sea, delays may be expected. To view a full
list of awards and winners, recipients from prior years, and further
information about the OCC, please visit our website at http://oceancruisingclub.org/Awards .
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