JOG Seamanship Trophy 2005
by Andy Phelps 2 Dec 2005 04:05 PST
31.7 owner Paul Harding was awarded the Trophy for Seamanship at the JOG Annual Dinner last weekend. On receiving the award, Paul spoke briefly to the 300+ guests, saying that he felt the award was for the entire crew and he was glad to be in a position to look back and laugh about it.
The trophy was awarded to Paul for his actions in the JOG Cowes to Weymouth race. Electron was beating into a lumpy force 7, approximately 10 miles off of St Albans Head, when during a tack she was hit by a large wave that catapulted her bowman over the guardrail. Sharp-eyed Paul saw the incident happen and was able to grab and deploy the throwing line within an instant, while the rest of the crew brought Electron to a quick hove-to.
Even though the MOB was recovered within 30 seconds he was very cold and in shock. Paul issued a Pan-Pan to the coastguard for a second opinion on the state of his recovered crewman. The coastguard immediately dispatched a helicopter to hi-line him off of the boat after which he was kept in hospital overnight as a precaution against secondary drowning.
You will be relieved to know that Electron's bowman is fine and still sailing with Paul. Congratulations to Paul and the Electron crew on safely recovering their MOB and on receiving this rarely awarded trophy.
You can read a full race report of the incident on the JOG website.