14 year old is youngest ever

A 14 year old Optimist sailor has been awarded a US national sportsmanship award

US Sailing presented its National Sportsmanship have awarded, the W. Van Alan Clark Jr. Trophy, to J.D. Reddaway for his outstanding display of sportsmanship behavior at the Orange Bowl Junior Olympic Sailing Festival last December.

Reddaway who, at 14, is the youngest-ever recipient of the trophy was presented with the trophy at Florida Yacht Club in Jacksonville last Saturday where he was competing in the Thistle Orange Peel Regatta as crew for his father.

Reddaway was selected for the National Sportsmanship award based on an incident that occurred in the final race of the Orange Bowl regatta, where he was competing in the 85-boat Optimist Red fleet. During the starting sequence, a younger sailor capsized shortly after the raising of the class flag. J.D. was aware the sailor was not readily righting his boat and sailed over to communicate with him. Recognizing the boy was distraught and potentially injured, J.D. promptly stood up in his boat and signaled for assistance. Since the race was in a starting sequence, there was no one immediately available to assist this sailor. J.D. made a quick and unselfish decision to abandon his boat and swam to the sailor in need. The fellow competitor was tangled in his mainsheet so J.D. helped clear the entanglement and stayed with the young sailor to comfort him while waiting for assistance.

The US Sailing W. Van Alan Clark Jr. Trophy was presented to Reddaway by Skip Dieball, Chair of US Sailing's One-Design Class Council on Saturday. Moments after the presentation, Reddaway received a surprise congratulatory telephone call from US Sailing President Jim Capron, Executive Director Charlie Leighton, Vice President Tom Hubbell, as well as past Presidents Janet Baxter, Dave Rosekrans, and Jim Muldoon who were meeting in Newport, R.I.

Reddaway now joins a long list of highly respected sailors who have received US Sailing's W. Van Alan Clark Jr. Sportsmanship Trophy since the award was first presented 20 years ago. The list includes such well-known sailors as Olin J Stephens, Dave Perry, Harry Carpenter, and Buddy Melges.