“Someone who contributes to the degradation of the image of the yachtsman by extraordinary incompetence. sluggish thinking. or ludicrous behavior.” The Plaque was bought by lb Bentzen-Bilkvist in Copenhagen, Denmark and the broken Rudder donated by Dick Moehl in 1974. It was originally awarded to John Laird in 1974 for shearing off Tom Ehman, Jr’s rudder during a race.
Notable recipients have included Ray Dhue (1977) for attempting to trailer his Interlake from the (then) Newport Beach Club to his cottage on Portage Lake Avenue with the mast up; Ty and Flea Cathey for vanging John Ludlow’ s Scot so hard that the boom broke; the Cathey’s a second time for attempting to step the mast on their trailered Interlake without having the trailer attached to a car; and Brook Smith for using the service boat to destroy the rudder on a rental Highlander. In 1983, Dick Weaver received the award for sailing through the Interlake start on port tack. In addition to the trophy, Dick also received what was left of his sidestay. In 1994, Dick Barker won the Broken Rudder for sailing through Brook Smith’s spinnaker. This incident occurred before “hunting” was legal and, in any event, was thought to be one of the most spectacular incidents involving boat-to-boat contact in the history of the Club based upon the fact that Brook’s spinnaker actually exploded into three or four large pieces and numerous smaller ones.
Previous “winners”:
2023 Nancy Staub
2022 Steve Wiseman
2020 Tyler Cathey
2018 Fritz Wagner
2015 Carl Grolle
2014 Jack Coleman
2010 Brook Smith
2009 Brook Smith
2007 Suzanne Moore
2006 Tyler Cathey
2004 Greg Schymik
2003 Dick Barker
2002 Dick Barker
2001 Gordon Chapin
2000 Craig Kivi
1999 Ib Bentzen-Bilkvist
1998 Bill O’Donnell
1997 Ty & Flea Cathey
1996 Dick Barker
1995 Tom Ehman, Sr.
1994 Dick Barker
1993 Ty & Flea Cathey
1992 Dave Robinson
1991 Rick Lyons
1990 Don Locker
1989 Rich Probst
1988 Robbie Babcock
1987 Tom O’Keefe
1986 Bob Miller & Joe Holtzman
1985 Tom Ehman, Sr
1984 Keith Kobet & Barb Wehr
1983 Dick Weaver
1982 Brook Smith
1981 Paul Ehman
1980 Ty & Flea Cathey
1979 John Fischer
1977 Perry Saunders & Raymond Dhue
1976 Walt Rensel
1975 Vernon Goelzer, Jack Pointer (Honorable Mention)
1974 John Laird