Faye Bennet Sportsmanship Trophy

New in 2004 to the U.S. Junior Singlehanded Championship was the Faye Bennet Sportsmanship Award, a perpetual trophy awarded to the singlehanded sailor (if any) who exhibits the highest tradition in fairness during the regatta. This award now joins the other Junior Championship sportsmanship awards the F. Gardner Cox Sportsmanship Trophy (triplehanded) and the Bemis Sportsmanship Award (doublehanded).

The trophy was donated to the U.S. Junior Singlehanded Championship by the friends of Faye Bennet which included North Sails, in honor of her unstinting support of junior sailing.  A past chair of US SAILING’s Junior Championships, Faye was also on the Community Sailing Association’s Executive Committee and one of its Junior Championship and Championships Coordinators as well as volunteering each summer as a judge.  She still found time to work every day with junior sailors near her home in Beach Haven, New Jersey.

The trophy, a Mallard decoy mounted on a wooden base, honors Faye Bennet’s work with waterfowl rescue.  Faye, a licensed Audubon rehabilitator, worked for many years rescuing distressed birds on the New Jersey shore, many of them mallards.  As Faye has acted as a ‘mother duck’ to the many young sailors who follow her out to the race course, it seemed only fitting that the trophy reflect that. In 2004, the winner was Matt Sterett (Corpus Christi Yacht Club) who also received a smaller version of the duck to keep.