New offshore award

Olin J. Stephens Ocean Racing Trophy awarded to Peter Rebovich

Peter Rebovich has been awarded the first Olin J. Stephens Ocean Racing Trophy for the top combined ORR performance in consecutive Newport Bermuda and Marblehead to Halifax Ocean Races. Olin Stephens presented the trophy for the first time at the Royal Nova Scotia Yacht Squadron in Halifax on Thursday, July
12th at the awards ceremony.

Rebovich, from Metuchen New Jersey, sailed his vintage Cal 40 Sinn Fein to 3rd place in the ORR Division of the 2007 Marblehead to Halifax Ocean Race. That performance, combined with his 1st place finish in the ORR fleet of the St. David’s Lighthouse Division of 2006 Centennial Newport Bermuda Race, earned him the new prize.

The Cruising Club of America, the Boston Yacht Club, the Royal Bermuda Yacht Club, and the Royal Nova Scotia Yacht Squadron created this major new offshore yacht racing trophy to recognize skippers competing in consecutive Newport Bermuda and Marblehead to Halifax Ocean Races. The Olin J. Stephens Ocean Racing Trophy will be awarded yearly to the skipper with the lowest total-point ORR scoring in consecutive editions of these races.

The trophy will be presented again in 2008 for combined performance under ORR in the 2007 Marblehead to Halifax Ocean Race and St. David’s Lighthouse or Gibbs Hill Lighthouse divisions of the 2008 Newport Bermuda Race.

The organizers of the Newport Bermuda Race continue their support of joint trophies to
encourage participation in ocean racing. The Newport Bermuda Race also co-sponsors the Bermuda Ocean Cruising Yacht Trophy with the Marion to Bermuda Race Cruising Yacht Race.

That trophy is awarded for consecutive-year performance in the Marion to Bermuda Race and the Cruiser Division of the Newport Bermuda Race, once again using ORR scoring.

The Olin J. Stephens Ocean Racing Trophy honors one of the most successful designers of offshore racing and cruising yachts in the last 100 years. For much of the 20th Century, designs by Stephens dominated ocean racing. Since his retirement in 1980, Olin Stephens has been a world-wide ambassador for sailing.