A boisterous bursting clubhouse filled to (and perhaps past) capacity celebrated sailors of all stripes, Racing/Cruising/Juniors, who experienced exceptional adventures and performances.  Three bartenders barely keeping up with the demand, Chef Gordon producing another excellent low-cost dinner – all set the stage for a fun-filled CYC Awards Party on Friday, January 15, celebrating a multitude of outstanding 2015 performances.

Commodore Jerry Diercks hosted the ceremony assisted by several other Officers and Board members.  2015 Commodore Stuart Burnell was honored for his role in leading the Club last year with a CYC flag that flew over the Clubhouse in 2015 – only slightly tattered (the flag, not Stuart)!

Discretionary Awards

The Awards came quickly, but not before Commodore Diercks emphasized that the true winners for the Discretionary Awards were the nominees, itself a true honor to be celebrated.

Hans Otto Giese for outstanding service – GEOFF PEASE was selected for his many contributions to the racing program and supporting the office computers.  Other nominees were JEN HOBDEN for her work on the Club’s website, and SHAUNA WALGREN for many volunteer efforts including promoting the women’s sailing program, attracting new Club members and junior program support.  Commodore Diercks noted that this award had the closest voting among three outstanding candidates each of whom has served CYC for several years in important but often quiet roles

Sailor of the Year – CARL BUCHAN, winner of the Star North Americans held at Shilshole, the Star championships of Districts 5 (California) and 6 (Pacific NW), as well as outstanding results on his Custom 40 Madrona, a 505 and other boats in many other races.  Other nominees were SCOTT MILNE (see the Boat of the Year results) and BILL WEINSTEIN, for a multitude of overall first places all year long (see Honor Roll, below).

Gary Horder Award for outstanding Junior Sailor – TALIA TOLAND for numerous top performances in national and international regattas on her Laser Radial, as well as in the Northwest races for herself and representing Overlake HS in high school racing.  Other nominees, each of whom was first in their class in the Pacific NW Youth Racing circuit, were BLAKE BENTZEN, DIETER CRIETZ (at age 8, likely the youngest member ever to be nominated for a CYC award), DANE PETRAKIS and OWEN TIMMS.

Boat of the Year – TREMENDOUS SLOUCH, a J-24 skipped by Scott Milne, which won each of the four Lake series against the largest and deepest J-24 fleet in the USA, the first time this has been done since 2003, and top finishes in other local and west coast regattas.  Other nominees, each with many firsts and other top finishes throughout 2015, included:  BRAVO ZULU, a Beneteau 40.7 skippered by Vice Commodore Denny Vaughn; GREEN MACHINE, a Star skipped by Carl Buchan; JUBILLEE, a J-105 skippered by Erik Kristen; LAST TANGO, a J-105 skippered by Jim Geros; and TERREMOTO, a Riptide 35 skippered by Bill Weinstein.

Boating Family of the Year:  the BUCHAN FAMILY (CYC members Bill & Karen Buchan, Carl & Carol Buchan, Lindsay & Dalton Bergan) but also recognizing family members Jamie Buchan, John Buchan, Mara Bohman and Brian Ledbetter, for a multitude of outstanding sailing results on many different boats throughout the year.  The other nominee was the JON and MICHELLE HENDERSON family for their many contributions to CYC and racing activities.

Cruising Boat of the Year – WINDARRA, a Stephens 47 Cutter Rig, owned by Rich Jablonski and Elaine Cashar, currently in Argentina on an extended cruise that started in 2010 down the West Coast, around South America and headed to the Caribbean.  The other nominee was JOYRIDE, a Catalina 400, owned by Brett and Joyce Phillips for their many local cruising activities and welcoming new Club members.

George Spalding Award for most inspirational junior – BLAKE BENTZEN for his cheerful attitude, assisting younger sailors and always being ready to go sailing.  Other nominees were DIETER CREITZ and DANE PETRAKIS.

Dog House Award for an unseaman-like activity – as they were waiting for the announcement of the winner, the three most nervous nominees of the evening were for this award: Joe Bersch (who with Dalton Bergan for trying to sail their almost unsailable new proa Pure & Wild in the inaugural Race to Alaska), Greg Slyngstad (who with an outstanding crew on his J-125 Hamachi forgot to note the location of the first mark was in the first Grand Prix race) and Lee Youngblood (who with Kathleen Davis did not properly anchor their boat, Simplicity, a C&C 35, on a calm Puget Sound during a CYC cruise to Blakely Rocks and fortunately noticed in time that Simplicity was drifting down the Sound).  Each took their nomination in the humorous manner intended, and Joe and Greg were relieved when LEE YOUNGBLOOD and KATHLEEN DAVIS were announced the “winners.”

Honor Roll of Champions

New additions for 2015 to the CYC Honor Roll for winning national or international regattas or awards of similar nature:

MARK BRADNER – San Juan 24 North Americans

CARL and JAMIE BUCHAN – Star North Americans

DAN FALK – RS Aero North Americans

STEVE GOODSON and ALAN DIERCKS – International 14 North Americans

GREG SLYNGSTAD – TransPac, Division 4

BILL WEINSTEIN – Cape Flattery Race, Swiftsure, 1^st overall

BILL WEINSTEIN – Van Isle 360, Division One

Performance Awards

Winners of specific races/regattas:

Blakely Rocks:

• PHRF – ACE, Peter Shorett & Zig Burzycki, Port Madison YC
• IRC – GLORY, John Buchan, Seattle YC

Scatchet Head:

• PHRF – TERREMOTO, Bill Weinstein, CYC
• IRC – GLORY, John Buchan, Seattle YC

Three Tree Point:

• PHRF – DOS, Brad Butler, Port Madison YC
• IRC – GLORY, John Buchan, Seattle YC

Werner Ohmes FoghornTrophy– best Center Sound performance:

• GLORY, John Buchan, Seattle YC

Northwest Challenge Cup – best overall in Center Sound, PSSR and PSSC:

• JUBILEE, Erik Kristen, CYC

Bill Lieberman Trophy – top CYC junior in NW Optimist Regionals:

• OWEN TIMMS

Other Recognitions

Fleet Captain Race, Matthew Wood recognized the many volunteers and employees who contributed throughout the year to make the Club a success, including Beth and Celeste in the office, Bartender Karen, Chef Gordon, PROs Charley Rathkopf and Kevin Cunningham, and those who served as whaler drivers, volunteer bartenders, volunteer race committee members, protest judges, webmasters, race registrars, regatta chairs and others.  He also thanked Hans Spiller for engraving all the awards and trophies, Jan Anderson for contributing most of the photographs used in the Awards slideshow and the Boat of the Year photograph that hangs by the bar, and Ken Johnson for preparing information about nominees for the Board’s decisions and writing the script and collecting the 100+ photos for the evening’s presentation.

Crowd-Funding Effort

Commodore Jerry stated that while the Club continues to attract new members, with now over 600 in our ranks, we have experienced some growing pains and ran at a financial loss for 2015.  Jerry introduced a Crowd-Source Funding Effort to help raise funds for specific projects, and asked for initial contributions.  By the night’s end, Staff Commodore Brian Watson contributed a sound system worth $1,200 and another member sponsored acquisition of a new hailing system for Lake Washington’s Race Committee Boat, YC VI costing just under $500.  In addition, members pledged over $3,000 towards the acquisition of a commercial freezer and refrigerator for our food service.  We are at least 55% of the way toward that purchase.  Starting in February, look to The Telltale for opportunities to help the Club with these endeavors.

All in all, a very successful evening filled with lots of sailing stories and memories (mostly true) of an outstanding 2015.  Great fun for everyone there, and a good time was missed by those who weren’t.

Thanks to Lauren Buchholz, who has captured and shared photographs of the event: