FBYC History....

Jere Dennison

One of our oldest, yet surely not the most coveted, of FBYC’s perpetual trophies bears the name of the Piankatank Trophy.  It takes the form of a full-sized wooden rocking chair covered with brass plates engraved with the names of recipients since first awarded to Andy Sinnickson in 1951. During most of its existence, a ceramic jug filled with rum was attached as an analgesic to cushion the public “humiliation” to which the recipient would be treated.  Alas, the jug has been lost. It is also mystifying that there was no award made for a full decade bracketed by Peter Roughton in 1956 and Jerry Kambourian in 1967.  It is hard to believe that there were no eligible candidates during this period. 

Officially the deed requires that the trophy be awarded to the club member “whose actions during the sailing season best exemplify the principle that all is not lost until the boat sinks.”  Obviously the award is a gleeful exercise in roasting a member for his sailing mishaps over the past year. That is not to say that recipients lack the requisite boat handling skills to stay out of trouble most of the time.  The names of some of our more experienced and accomplished sailors embellish the Rocking Chair.  However, when the stars malignantly align, even the best among us often cannot avoid a fateful encounter with misfortune.

The Rocking Chair award is normally the most highly anticipated presentation at the Annual Meeting each year.  This is due to the amusing citation recited while the victim is humbly enthroned in his rocker. The citations can be either poetry or prose composed by a member or members who are especially knowledgeable about the embarrassing incidents that qualify candidates for the award. This brings me to the main point of this article…we have not maintained an archive of these citations so the actions for which the past winners were credited have been lost to history.  Additionally, many members are unable to attend the Annual Meeting and therefore were unable to participate in the jocularity of the moment.

Therefore, if it be permitted, the Historian is issuing a Decree that henceforth every citation for the Piankatank Trophy be published in the Log as soon as practical after each Annual Meeting and be maintained in the archives for the amusement of future generation of club sailors. This year, the 15-verse citation was composed by club poet laureate pro tem Amy Miller, a Scot sailor, and declaimed at the presentation by Sharon Bauer, also a Scot sailor. Sharon Wake accepted the award in the absence of her skipper and husband, John Wake. It is printed in its entirety below. (If anyone has copies of previous citations, please forward them to the Historian – email jerepaula@verizon.net)

2010 Piankatank Trophy Winner
John Wake, Flying Scot Sailor

‘Twas the day before One Design when all through the Bay
Not a boat was out sailing due to wild winds that day

The Wakes rigged their boat with utmost care
Then out sailing they went as if on a dare

For John felt like practicing; he felt no dread
Visions of pickle dish trophies danced in his head

The boat toppled over, the spinnaker stuck up the mast
John may have had fun, Sharon did NOT have a blast

They righted the boat for a moment or two
Then over it went as the wild wind blew

After much swimming and struggling, the spinnaker now stowed
For all of their efforts big bruises proudly showed

Saturday was mild, gave the lumps time to heal
And to recover a bit from Friday’s ordeal

On Sunday the wind built with each and every race
No lull in the waves not even a trace

Attempting a port tack pin finish for the last time that day
John fell out of the boat in a most spectacular way

Sharon, alone in the Scot, began to comprehend
Given what had transpired was this part of a trend?

As finishing Scotters observed this event
A crew from one boat, to Sharon was sent

At the pin, in the water, John was afloat
Pondering hard how to get in a boat

A Scot went to John and nearly pulled his arm from the socket
As they sailed by, a puff blew and they passed like a rocket

John’s head underwater, he kicked with all of his might
Then flopped in the boat, glad he was out of sight

With the weekend he had, John said this surely stank
‘Cause it made him a candidate for this Piankatank