The St Francis Sailing Foundation is very proud of it’s community of athletes who took home important trophies for 2023 awarded by the St Francis Yacht Club this week. Mike Martin, StFSF board member and his crew Adam Lowry shared the Jerome B. White Yachtsman of the Year Trophy. Grantee Hans Henken won the ROBERT C. EVANS MEMORIAL TROPHY, and grantee Daniela Moroz won the St. Francis Yacht Club Yachtswoman of the Year Trophy. Way to go!
The ROBERT C. EVANS MEMORIAL TROPHY recognizes the most outstanding achievement of a skipper racing under the StFYC burgee in a national or international small boat championship regatta during the preceding year. Hans Henken has spent the majority of his career competing on the US Sailing Team in the 49er class with a goal of making it into the Olympics – for which he qualified last weekend! Hans Henken will be representing the US in France this year. He was a gold medal-winner at the 2023 Pan Am Games, but he’s not limited to small skiff racing. In SailGP’s F50 catamarans, he served as Flight Controller on Team USA during the 2023 season. A proud Member of StFYC, he never fails to enter regattas under our burgee.
The ST. FRANCIS YACHT CLUB YACHTSWOMAN OF THE YEAR TROPHY consists of the Presto Cup won by W.F. Stone at the 1915 Panama Pacific International Exposition, with a base donated by Karl and Lois Limbach. It is awarded to the woman Member or partner of a Member for her contribution to the sport of yachting in the broadest sense of the definition. Not only did Daniela Moroz qualify the United States for the 2024 Paris Olympics in the Women’s Kite category, but she was also the first American sailor to do so this year, and the first American kitefoiler ever. Additional accomplishments this year include winning Gold at the Pan Am Games, and first in the Women’s Kite class at the Miami and Clearwater stops of the US Open Sailing Series. At the World Sailing Championships, she was fifth overall. Year after year, this accomplished sailor continues to impress us with her victories, determination, and talent.
JEROME B. WHITE YACHTSMAN OF THE YEAR TROPHY is awarded to the Member who has made the greatest contribution during the preceding calendar year to the sport of yachting in the broadest sense of the definition. Mike Martin and Adam Lowry will share the Jerome B. White Yachtsman of the Year Trophy in 2023. This duo of longtime StFYC Members and sailing partners had another amazing season on the water. They won the 505 World Championship, held here at StFYC. It was a tough challenge right up to the final race. They also won the Pre-Worlds. They topped the podium at the Elvstrom-Zellerbach Regatta and the Columbia Gorge Regatta. At our Fall Dinghy Regatta, they were third in class. Though we know them well as podium-topping 5O5 sailors, they are also accomplished kitefoilers. At the US Open Sailing Series at StFYC, Mike was first in the Open Kite, just ahead of Adam, who was second – so they both got to share the podium in that sport, too!
Content: courtesy St Francis Yacht Club
Photo: courtesy StFYC, L to R: Adam Lowry, Mike Martin, Linda Moroz for Daniela Moroz, Hans Henken