The US Sailing Safety at Sea Committee has awarded the Arthur B. Hanson Rescue Medals to a sailboat’s crew for their heroic efforts displayed during the 2014 Newport to Bermuda Race, hosted by the Cruising Club of America and the Royal Bermuda Yacht Club.
On June 22, 2014 in the mid-Atlantic Ocean, the crew of the Taylor 41 Wandrain put out a mayday call. The boat had been taking on water with serious hull damage.
Three boats responded to the VHS call; Rocket Science, Black Watch and Dorade. Black Watch’s afterguard—John Melvin, navigator Peter Rugg, and the watch captains Jamie Cummiskey and CCA member Lars Forsberg—decided that their larger vessel was best qualified to stand by and escort Wandrian to Bermuda.
“If the boat has to be evacuated and someone else needs to take eight or nine people aboard, we should be there,” Rugg later explained. “This is the stuff that’s important to the sport.”
