Cruising Club of America Announces Winners
The Cruising Club of America presents the 2011 awards for outstanding seamanship and service.
Thies Matzen and Kicki Ericson Presented with the 2011 Blue Water Medal
The Cruising Club of America (CCA) has awarded its esteemed 2011 Blue Water Medal to Thies Matzen and Kicki Ericson for a commendable 24 years and 135,000 miles of sailing the oceans of the world with a focus in the high latitudes of the Southern Ocean. The first Blue Water Medal was awarded in 1923; and is given to “the most meritous example of seamanship.” Its recipient is selected from among amateurs of all the nations.” The medal will be presented by Commodore Daniel P. Dyer, III at the annual Awards Dinner on March 2, 2012 at New York Yacht Club in Manhattan.
Matzen was born in Germany in 1956 and grew up to be a wooden boat builder. In 1981, Matzen purchased Wanderer III, a 30 foot wooden sloop, built in 1952 for Eric and Susan Hiscock who made two circumnavigations with it and received the Blue Water Medal in 1955. Matzen sailed Wanderer III to Scandinavia where he cruised extensively, including to the Lofoten Islands (Norway), and then crossed the Atlantic Ocean. In 1989, while sailing in the Caribbean, he met Swedish-born (1964) Ericson, and the two have lived on Wanderer III ever since. After leaving the Caribbean, the duo sailed through the Panama Canal and into the Pacific Ocean where they spent seven years traveling from site to site. After that, Ericson and Matzen sailed to Indonesia, explored the Indian Ocean, and sailed around the Cape of Good Hope (South Africa).
From 1997 to 1999, Matzen and Ericson did two circuits of the South Atlantic, starting in Cape Town (South Africa) and visiting Argentina, The Falkland Islands, and South Georgia before heading back to Cape Town (South Africa) and South America, where they rounded Cape Horn before returning to the Pacific. The couple’s last 12 years have been comprised of exploring sites in the Southern Ocean, including Tasmania, The Auckland Islands, Antarctica and the Falkland Islands. Recently the two spent 26 months in South Georgia. Currently, Matzen and Ericson are in Brazil and plan to do some work on Wanderer III, which has been kept in its original condition with no electronics onboard except a VHF radio and handheld GPS (added in 2007). The vessel has a 16 horsepower diesel engine and the hull, rigging, and gear have been self-maintained using traditional methods.
Gary Jobson Honored with CCA’s 2011 Richard S. Nye Trophy
The Cruising Club of America (CCA) has selected Gary Jobson (Annapolis, Md.) to receive its Richard S. Nye Trophy for sharing with the club his meritorious service, racing, and statesmanship in the affairs of international yachting. The trophy will be awarded by Commodore Daniel P. Dyer, III at the annual Awards Dinner on March 2, 2012 at New York Yacht Club in Manhattan.
Jobson, who graduated from SUNY Maritime (Throgs Neck, N.Y.) in 1973 as an Inter-Collegiate Sailing All-American and two-time College Sailor of the Year, started his career as a sailing coach for the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy and the U.S. Naval Academy. Dating back to 1967, Jobson has competed in 5,400 sailboat races, including the 1977 America’s Cup, where he served as tactician for Ted Turner aboard the winning 12 Metre Courageous; eight Bermuda Races; six transatlantic races, and five Fastnet races. Jobson also has completed 17 cruises with his wife Janice and three daughters Brooke, Ashleigh, and Kristi. Currently, Jobson is President of US Sailing, the National Governing Body of Sailing, and acts as Editor at Large of Sailing World and Cruising World magazines.
With so much background in racing and cruising, Jobson’s transition into other areas of the sailing industry was inevitable. In 2003, while sick with Leukemia, Jobson began penning a memoir about the sport of sailing being a determining factor in his recovery. It was later published as Gary Jobson: An American Sailing Story and added yet another book to the 17 he has written. And if that would not be enough on anyone’s resume, since 1973, Jobson has given 2,400 lectures, and in 2011 he broke his lectures-given-per-year record by completing 124 presentations at yacht clubs and sailing organizations around the country. He also has produced or narrated roughly 800 television shows; has covered the America’s Cup eight times; and will count 2012 as his sixth Olympic Games, where in 1988 he won an Emmy for his production of the sailing event coverage for NBC.
Over the years, Jobson has won numerous awards for his generous work in promoting the sport of sailing, including the 1999 Nathaniel G. Herreshoff Trophy, US Sailing’s most prestigious award, given for an outstanding contribution to the sport of sailing in the United States. One of his finest achievements has been as National Chairman of the Leukemia Cup and the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society’s sailing program, which has raised approximately $40 million within the sailing communities.
