FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact:
Marlieke de Lange Eaton
401-683-0800
US
SAILING Presents National Award for
Race Administration to Bill Bentsen
Newport, R.I. (March 15, 2008) – US SAILING, national governing body for
the sport, has announced it is presenting its Harman Hawkins Trophy for
excellence in Race Administration to Bill Bentsen (Chicago, Ill.). US
SAILING President Jim Capron and Race Administration Committee Chair Dick
Rose made the announcement earlier today at US SAILING’s Spring Meeting in
Newport, Rhode Island. Unable to attend the US SAILING meeting, Bentsen will
officially be presented with the award at a later date. Presented annually,
US SAILING’s Harman Hawkins Trophy is awarded to an individual who has made
outstanding contributions to the sport of sailing in the field of race
administration (judging, race management, appeals and racing rules).
After an outstanding sailing career capped by two Olympic medals, Bentsen
has made significant contributions in all areas of Race Administration. He
has been influential in setting the direction for the US SAILING Judges
program when that program was in its infancy and has become a highly
respected US SAILING Senior Judge and an International Judge serving at all
levels of the sport, including the Olympic Games. In the 1970s, working with
the race committees at the national sailing center at Association Island,
N.Y., Bentsen developed strikingly innovative and effective new race
management techniques.
Bentsen’s major contribution has been on the US SAILING Appeals Committee as
well as both the US SAILING and the International Sailing Federation Racing
Rules Committees. He served on those three committees for decades and his
contributions are legendary. It is no exaggeration to say that Bentsen’s
knowledge of sailboat racing and his analytic and writing skills have
affected every racing rule, every US SAILING appeal and every ISAF case.
Following in the footsteps of Harold Vanderbilt, Gregg Bemis, Gerald
Sambrook-Sturgess, and Mary Pera, Bentsen is the person who has made the
most contributions to improving the racing rules of sailing in the last
thirty years.
US SAILING's Harman Hawkins Trophy is named after Harman Hawkins
(1919-2002), whose extraordinary involvement in sailing and numerous
chairmanships of the Appeals, Judges, and Legal Committees brought him many
honors and awards, including US SAILING’s Nathanael G. Herreshoff Trophy. In
his lifetime, Hawkins served as a President of US SAILING, Commodore of
Manhasset Bay Yacht Club and Storm Trysail Club, as well as President of the
Yacht Racing Association of Long Island Sound.
The United States Sailing Association (US SAILING) is the national governing
body for sailing. Founded in 1897 and headquartered in Portsmouth, Rhode
Island, the organization provides leadership for the sport of sailing in the
U.S. US SAILING offers training and education programs for instructors and
race officials, supports a wide range of sailing organizations and
communities, issues offshore rating certificates, and provides
administration and oversight of competitive sailing across the country,
including National Championships and the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Sailing
Teams. For more information, please visit
www.ussailing.org.
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