SFBFA Awards Dinner 2009

Rick Wolf was a tremendous folkboat sailor whom the Wednesday evening series trophy is named. He brought the boat, USA 76, over in 1956 and raced her until his death aboard the boat. The boat was sold to Jerry Langkhammerer, then sold to Bill Madison. The boat is still active and took 2nd place in the single handed race... way to go Bill! The trophy came to be mine for one year when we won the series and I recieved it in less than polished condition.
It sat on the mantel in the condition I received it, but when the time came for me to bring it in I thought it deserved a little more respect. So I polished it up and brought it with me to the awards dinner to pass over to Dave Wilson who won the series on a tie breaker with Peter Jeal. Turns out the last race, had we not won it, Peter would have won the series. Hmmm... how do you choose the lesser of those two evils? Ok, they aren't evil, but we do seem to enjoy beating each other.
For most of the year I used the trophy as a candy bowl... I'm sure it's been used in other ways, but for me this seemed the most appropriate.
It was tough to give up... my dad started winning it in 1971, the year I was born and won it 6 straight years. He put sailing on hold for two years to build his own boat and won it again the next season 1979. In all, 13 times he won this series.
So far, I've got it once and I'm sure I'll win this one again. This year we had to settle for 3rd and 2nd place for the season. I did manage to win the single handed race again and a 2nd place at the SF Cup... all in all a good season.