Two Great Lakes sailors nominated for
Harrison Township native Dawn Riley and Ron Sherry of Clinton Township have been nominated for the National Sailing Hall of Fame by the DRYA and others in our community.
They are just two of the many great sailors from this part of the country who deserve recognition not just for their sailing, but for their contributions to the sport.
Now the wait begins to see if they are selected. Along with DRYA, sailors from across the country have also been nominating their choice for induction into the National Sailing Hall of Fame.
The next step in the process will take place when the selection committee — which includes (among others) representatives from US Sailing, the sailing media, the sailing industry, community sailing, a maritime museum, a previous inductee, and the NSHOF Board — meets later this spring to review the nominations that have been made under the categories of Sailing, Technical/Design and Contributor (coach, administrator, sailing media).
The NSHOF will announce its 2015 class of Inductees this summer, with the formal Induction set to take place at Bay Head Yacht Club in October. For more information on the nomination process please visit: http://www.nshof.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=411&Itemid=124
Here are excerpts from their nomination letters:
Dawn literally paved the way for women to move into the highest levels of sailing.
She was the first woman to make an America’s Cup team in 1992, America3. She served as the team captain of the 1995 first and only all-women’s America’s Cup sailing team, America3 and as CEO and captain of the 2000 America True America’s Cup team.
She managed the 2007 French America’s Cup team. She is the first American to have raced on three America’s Cup teams and two Whitbread Round-the-World Race sailing teams.
Her resume also includes skipper of the 2002 IC 45 World Champion, K-Challenge 1, the first two-time winner of the Santa Maria Cup, and crewing on the Maxi Yacht Morning Glory as they set the all time course record in the 1996 Sydney to Hobart ocean race.
This is unprecedented success for a woman in sailing. Heck, it’s startling success for a man in sailing. Is isn’t easy to be a ground breaker but Dawn managed to do it with grace and confidence. She didn’t scream about gender discrimination. Instead she quietly succeeded on her sailing skills, and in doing so, broke those top level sailing barriers for women forever.
Her sailing success earned her a Rolex Yachtswoman of the Year award.
Today Dawn is heavily involved in promoting the future os sailing through non-profit organizations and in nurturing young sailors. Dawn is the CEO of the America True Foundation, which is dedicated to providing youth with the opportunity to benefit from sailing and its inherent life lessons.
Today her primary focus is the Oakcliff Sailing Center, a training and coaching center that prepares young athletes for a successful career in and outside of the sailing industry.
Ron’s an eight-time ice boat world champion who, in the true Corinthian spirit of the sport of sailing, spent the better part of a day helping someone he barely knew get into the sport.
It’s easy to forget just how much variety there is in the sport of sailing. There are monohulls, multihulls, boats that use foils. And in the winter, there are ice boats.
Ron is probably the most successful American to ever race an ice boat. His eight world championships include five in DNs, one in the Renegade class, one in the Skeeter class and one as a junior.
He’s won 11 North American champions in DN iceboats. In 2001, he won the World, North American and European championships in the same year.
With his typical modesty, Ron claims he “can’t remember” how many other ice boating championships he’s won. When pressed, he mentioned a Canadian national, Russian nationals, Central Regional, Western Regional and Northwest Regional regattas, several times over in most cases. He’s also won the ISA and International Skeeter Association championships.
His summer sailing has included 29 Port Huron to Mackinac races and 26 Chicago to Mackinac races, most recently as the mainsail trimmer on Equation, one of the fastest boats on the Great Lakes. He won the Thistle nationals in 1992, the S 27.9 nationals in 1989. He’s won two Beneteau 36.7 nationals, placed third in the Etchell nationals as the helmsman and two J-44 nationals.
But his nomination here is primarily based on his ice boat accomplishments. His consistent success in that class is Hall of Fame quality. His international success against top ice sailors from countries where ice boating is bigger than summer sailing makes him clearly the most significant American in this sport.
Ron’s final ice boating accomplishment is likely to be his most significant. It could certainly turn out to be his most enduring.
He realized that ice boat sailors were growing older, as a group, and it was important to bring young people into the class. But lighter sailors can be overpowered in a traditional DN ice boat, putting them in a possibly dangerous situation.
Ron took a lesson from junior sailing and helped develop the Ice Opti, a smaller ice boat with an Optimist Pram rig. They are fast boats — they’ve been clocked at 60 mph. But the Opti rig makes it more forgiving for light sailors because in heavy air, it spills air out of the top. Many ice boating competitions now have an Ice Opti class, ensuring the future growth of the ice boat class.
