And the Awards for Shipwrights 2021 go to…

THE GOLDEN TRIDENT – for the saltiest boat or crew. Saltiness can enter our lives in different ways, through dress (tricorn hats), speech (ARRRGH, me hearties!), or simply by splashing in over low topsides. This year’s winner is an eleven-foot open boat, (a PT 11) racing on what turned out to be a breezy February day, and bailing like their lives depended on it. In the judges’ opinion, Li’l B and her crew were very salty. Spotted on their way to the finish line when the breeze and sea had kicked up, they were keeping a stiff upper lip as one bailed and the other said, “Faster, faster!” But they persevered and went on to a pretty good finish for a pretty small boat. Thus, Russell and Ashlyn Brown are awarded the Golden Trident.

DIRECTIONAL HELMET – for a boat that gets lost or misses a buoy. There was this beautiful, small, single handed, lug rigged, carvel planked, white-and-varnished wooden boat with either MS or TS (we think) on the sail, whom we congratulated on his fine speedy finish. That’s when he told us he didn’t realize the race was two laps. This unknown sailor gets the Directional Helmet award. [Late breaking news: the mystery boater has been identified as Kurt Gresham and the boat is La Vita e’ Bella.]

WHACK-O-MATIC – for the best use of misspent energy. This was a tie. Two boats, Andiamo Again and the schooner Ceridwen, were racing neck-and-neck toward the leeward mark across the now-bounding main, and do you know that feeling you get when it seems the goal you’re sailing for never gets any closer and you’re out there pounding along for it seems like forever, like a pair of Flying Dutchmen? That’s how these two boat crews must have felt, because that’s actually what was happening; the mark wasn’t getting any closer. In fact, the mark took off and was flying away from them even faster than they were chasing it. What they didn’t realize was that the winner of the Twisted Belaying Pin award had hit the mark, tangled with its anchor line, and broken it loose. With the mark now under full sail and drifting perilously close to shore, they finally broke off the chase like hounds do when a rabbit “goes to ground.” They made their way back to the finish line, so, to Matt McCleary and Doug Young and their crews, congratulations on a fine win of this year’s Whack-O-Matic award.

TWISTED BELAYING PIN – for a boat that had problems on the course. There was no tie on this one. Not even close. Flapdoodle and her crew were a ways ahead of the future winners of the Whack-O-Matic award when they had an altercation with the leeward mark. Her crew could not seem to pull her away from it, and saw with consternation the other boats bearing down on them. Being the friendly sailors we all wish we were, they started their engine to get out of the way. It was then, the judges would later learn, that their prop became a high-speed winch, and the mark’s anchor and rode went for a ride on Flapdoodle while the mark sailed merrily away. They were rescued by the future winners of the Perpetual Award, who towed them in to the dock. Len and Diane Feldman, the awesome honor of the Twisted Belaying Pin award for 2021 is yours.

PEG LEG – for the boat with the oldest average age of crew. Murrelet, built and skippered by Bertram Levy, together with his crew, had an average age of 74.25 years. We won’t tell you which one of them skewed that towards the upper end, but he sailed in the very first Shipwright’s Regatta many years ago, so it couldn’t be more appropriate that the Peg Leg award goes to Bertram Levy and his crew.

THE TAKU AWARD – the biggest boat to try the hardest and go the slowest. This award was originally going to be for the last boat to cross the start line, but with so many boats racing, the race committee told the judges that this info had somehow slipped overboard. So we are awarding this special prize for 2021 as a new category. The three guys on Maya, a fifty foot sloop new to them,  worked hard, and yes, went slow. Sails were observed flapping and luffing for unusually long periods of time as nearby racers no doubt were urging them to “Trim! Trim!” However, rumor has it that laughter was heard coming from Maya’s direction, and this really is what the Shipwright’s Regatta is all about: just getting out there, putting your sails up, and seeing what happens. So congratulations to Nick Sassine and crew for winning the Taku Award. Next year will be better.

PERPETUAL AWARD – for exceptional seamanship or sportsmanship. You may have heard by now that the winner of the Twisted Belaying Pin award had a problem at the leeward mark, via freeing it to the vagaries of wind and wave via their high-speed prop winch. Kuma San, a Thunderbird, having already finished, sailed down to that mark wondering what carnage was being wrought. They checked with Flapdoodle’s crew to see if they were ok (which they seemed to be) and went off to snatch up the mark before it went aground. Kuma San pulled it in and deflated it with the immense enjoyment one might get from a beanbag chair on the foredeck, just as the the mark boat had gone searching for it. Thinking that perhaps the mark boat might be confused by the missing mark, Kuma San flagged them down. No one knew at this point that Flapdoodle’s prop was fouled. The able crew on Kuma San, always liking to tell a good story, explained to the crew on the mark boat what had happened and suggested that perhaps they might check on Flapdoodle, who seemed to be drifting toward the breakwater. So it was Holly Kays, Robert d’Arcy, and two photographers to the rescue! Upon arriving at the scene and assessing the situation, they tied alongside Flapdoodle and expertly brought them into the dock. This is actually an historic win, because perhaps for the first time in Shipwright’s Regatta history, a motorboat gets an award! The Perpetual Award goes to the mark boat and its crew.

THE CAPTAIN HOOK – for last boat to cross the FINISH line. Noddy is an 11 foot Scamp, and was raced single handed. So it’s not a big surprise that she gets this prestigious award. We guess she was happy being out on the bay in February, because after finishing (and having witnessed the incident with the winner of the Twisted Belaying Pin) she stayed out for another tootle around the bay. Simeon Baldwin gets the Captain Hook and can use it next year to hook on to the back of a faster boat.

VAN HOPE COMMUNITY AWARD – for the most young people, or the youngest person, on a boat. We are still doing research to figure out who get this one. Let us know if you had young ones aboard.