CRAB announces 2025 Skipper and Crew Member of the Year
by CRAB Sailing 7 Dec 2025 07:19 PST
Steve Palmer enjoying the sailing © CRAB Sailing
At the annual Chesapeake Region Accessible Boating (CRAB) Holiday & Volunteer Appreciation Party on December 4th, the Lance Hinrichs Memorial Award for Skipper of the Year was presented to Steve Palmer and the Crew Member of the Year was awarded to Mitch Buchman.
When introducing the Skipper of the Year, Paul Bollinger, CRAB President & CEO, noted that the honoree was sailing in the Bahamas, but he had prepared a video for his acceptance speech. Before playing the video, Bollinger read a poem he had written to acknowledge Steve's many accomplishments this year at CRAB. Steve, who is a double amputee above the knees, was fully certified as a CRAB Skipper to take disabled guests sailing. In 2025 Steve participated as a skipper in the Don Backe Memorial Regatta, the Robie Pierce Regatta (Larchmont, NY), the CRAB Cup, and the CRAB Special Olympics Regatta while volunteering over 171 hours in 5 months. You can read the poem here.
The Crew Member of the Year Award was presented to Mitch Buchman who has volunteered over 155 hours in 2025. Bollinger remarked about Buchman: "He brings a calming presence which translates to all those around him. He is quiet, yet carries a presence. His interactions with CRAB guests are easy, patient and skillful. Mitch sees something that needs to be done and does it - including unknown maintenance requests, or shuttling other volunteers to Solomons Island to retrieve a donated boat." Mitch Buchman was an incredible and invaluable crew member for CRAB in 2025.
This year, 137 CRAB volunteers donated over 5,100 hours of their time in support of 113 on-water events.