The Ocean Cruising Club (OCC) has awarded its Barton Cup, the club’s highest award, to U.S. sailor Randall Reeves. The award comes in recognition of Reeves’ Figure 8 Voyage, in which he circumnavigated not just Antarctica but also North and South America, all in a single year.
In a testament to Reeves’ toughness, his record-setting success actually came on his second attempt. As related in an article he wrote for SAIL (Lessons Learned in an Indian Ocean Gale, Nov. 2018) his first attempt ended in June 2018 when his 45ft aluminum sloop Moli suffered a series of knockdowns in the Southern Ocean forcing him to return. Four months later, though, he was back at it, rounding Cape Horn twice and transiting the Northwest Passage before finally returning home.
According to the OCC: “The planning and seamanship that went into the voyage were painstaking. He wrote beautifully about his experience in his blog, engaging his virtual stowaways as part of his team. Mission accomplished on the second attempt.”
Other recipients of OCC awards this year include 11-time circumnavigator, Australian Jon Sanders, receiving the OCC’s Lifetime Cruising Award; Germany’s Susanne Huber-Curphy, who received the club’s Seamanship Award for not just completing The Longue Route race marking the 50th anniversary of Bernard Moitessier’s circumnavigation in the Golden Globe Race, but like Moitessier blowing past the finish line to keep on sailing to the Pacific; and YouTube sensations Riley Whitelum and Elayna Carauso, who received the OCC Award in recognition of their role in popularizing the sailing life.
The Ocean Cruising Club is comprised of 3,1000 members from more than 40 countries and is committed to encouraging the art, science and spirit of long-distance sailing. To qualify for full membership, an individual must have completed a nonstop ocean passage of no less than 1,000 nautical miles aboard a vessel under 70ft LOA. For more on the club, whose members fly the widely recognized blue and yellow “flying fish” burgee, and a complete list of the OCC’s latest group of award winners, visit oceancruisingclub.org.
April 2020
