2006 US SAILING ONE-DESIGN AWARDS

L to R: US SAILING Vice President Tom Hubbell, Dave Michos,
Jack Lynch, and US SAILING President Jim Capron
 

US SAILING One-Design SERVICE Award
for the
John H. Gardiner, Jr. Trophy
presented to
Jack Lynch, Annapolis, MD

Jack Lynch, recipient of the John F. Gardiner Jr. Trophy for service to the class has promoted one-design sailing for 50 years. He has served as a mentor to an entire generation of sailors, race committees, judges, and even commodores.

Jack competes in the Star Class and sailed in all the big regattas including many world championships and three Olympic Trials. He won the North American Laser 28 and the Northern Ireland Dragon Championships.

Jack is recognized throughout the country as both a National Race Officer and a National Judge. He has judged at the Star North Americans, Star Class Olympic Trials, J/22 Worlds, and J/24 East Coast Championship. As PRO he has run several Star District 2 Championships, the Star Miller Series, J/22 Worlds, and the 2001 US SAILING Rolex International Women’s Keelboat Championship.

Jack began sailing Lightning and Stars in the 1950s and is a past commodore of the West River Sailing Club in Galesville, MD. While there he introduced the Stars to the club and built a fleet that is active to this day.

In the early 1970s, Jack founded a company called Chesapeake Cutters which installed one of the first computer driven laser sail cutting machines. Jack helped develop the early sails for the Laser Class and cut thousands of sails helping put this class on the map.

As member of the Annapolis Yacht Club (AYC), Jack encouraged AYC to acquire an adjacent marina property and began to convert it into a one-design center. The use of this facility was his vision, and he was recruited by the club to be the Sailing Director.

During his tenure as AYC’s Sailing Director, Jack
• managed the yard and staff
• oversaw the development of new bulkheads and conversion to one-design friendly floating docks
• implemented many creative ideas in regatta organization and support from on-line registration to pre-arranging borrowed boats.
• used on-the-water wireless scoring uploaded to the internet by the race committee, allowing friends and families at home to follow their favorite competitors in near real time while completely doing away with the wait for results at the end of the day.
• brought many regattas to AYC including Star Worlds
• served on committees including Building & Grounds, Membership, and Special Events.
• chaired AYC’s Models Committee.
• is the go-to guy when any boat has a problem during a regatta and nearly always gets sailors back on the water for the racing.

As a member of AYC, Jack recognized the growing interest in one-design keelboat racing and urged the AYC to support it. Nine years ago, Jack led the charge to build a fleet J/22s and with a small group committed to buy a boat to launch the fleet. Over the past 10 years, the local J/22 class has grown from just a few members to over 75 boats. After that success, Jack was instrumental in building the Etchells fleet. AYC’s Etchells fleet has grown to over 30 boats racing weekly and is now the largest Etchells fleet on the East Coast.

Jack retired as Sailing Director last year but remains active on and off the water. According to AYC Race Committee Chairman Chip Thayer, “Jack has been a teacher, mentor and role model for virtually every race officer and judge we have.”
 

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US SAILING One-Design LEADERSHIP Award
presented to

Dave Michos, Jet 14 Class, Euclid, OH
 

Dave Michos exemplifies what it takes to be a leader in one-design sailing. Dave, a member of Edgewater Yacht Club, in Cleveland, has been a member of the Jet 14 Class for the past 10 years.

 Dave started a new Jet 14 fleet at Edgewater, in 2003, with three members, and the fleet has grown to 16 in three years.  In 2004, under Dave’s leadership,  Edgewater hosted the Jet 14 National Championship.

 Dave is always buying old boats, refitting them and selling them to grow the class. He has bought, sold and brought over 20 boats into Ohio. Dave and his wife , Sue, maintain their own very active club and regatta race program, with new fiberglass and restored wood hulls. Dave has restored several wooden boats that are extremely competitive, finishing 5th at the 2006 Nationals in the 50-year-old boat #217.Dave is currently restoring hull #7 with plans to sail it at the 2007 Nationals in Island Heights, New Jersey, the boat’s original home. Dave is the founder and leader of the Jet 14 club racing program on Thursday evenings at Edgewater YC.

 Dave is always willing to help any sailor. The side doors of his van are always open, dispensing boat hardware, and the charged up power drill is always available.

  Dave is frequently seen taking out new people who want to try a Jet 14. This summer the fleet had 46 races with 39 people coming out to sail Jets. He is responsible for organizing the fleet’s participation at the Cleveland Boat Show, taking time out to set up a boat for display. Year round activities, such as clinics, a family bowling party and a chili competition are just some the activities that Dave works with his Fleet Captain Cliff Peshek to organize. Dave, outside of helping to grow the Jet 14 fleet, helps the EYC Junior Racing program with boat repairs and rigging. He also volunteers with race committee duties for regattas.

 Dave and Sue, were recently honored as Edgewater YC's “Sailors of the Year”, bringing great recognition to the Jet 14 fleet. At the national class level, in August, Dave was elected Jet 14 Class President. In 2005, he served the Class as 1st VP responsible for promotion, contacting many old owners and bringing to market several used boats. The search for boats brought lots of emails containing cherished memories of jet sailing. Dave Michos truly demonstrates the commitment, dedication and leadership to make one design sailing grow. Now, it gives me great pleasure to present the One Design Leadership award to Dave Michos.

US SAILING One-Design CLUB Award
presented to
Southern Yacht Club, New Orleans, LA

                       L to R: Robert Schimek, SYC, Corky Potts, SYC Commodore, US SAILING
                        President Jim Capron, ODCC Chair Skip Dieball.

The US SAILING One-Design Club awards recognizes the club that shows administrative excellence, fleet growth, creative programming, regatta support, and member contribution at regional, national and international levels in one-design racing.

 US SAILING One-Design REGATTA Award
presented to
2006 E Scow National Championship
Lake Minnetonka, MN

The 2006 E National Championships had 92 boats, the largest regatta in the class' 48-year history. Much of the credit for the large turnout goes to the regatta co- chairs, Pat and Chrisy Hughes, who tirelessly promoted the regatta. Blake Middleton and the race management team did an outstanding job getting off six quality races.