Michigan, the Great Lakes State, was a fitting location as the National Sailing Hall of Fame gathered for the fourth time in the organization’s history to fulfill its mission to recognize Americans who have made outstanding contributions to the sport of sailing.
Eight of the sport of sailing’s significant contributors, as members of the 2014 Class of Inductees, were inducted into the National Sailing Hall of Fame at ceremonies that were the culmination of a weekend of activities co-hosted by Bayview and Detroit Yacht Clubs.
Yachtsman, historian and senior statesman of the sport Henry H. “Harry” Anderson, Jr. (Newport, R.I./Mystic, Conn.); mathematician and navigator Nathaniel Bowditch (Salem, Mass.); boat builder and U.S. Olympic Sailing Team boatwright Carl Eichenlaub (San Diego, Calif.); brothers Olaf Harken and Peter Harken (both Pewaukee, Wisc.), respectively, boat builder and sailing hardware designer; naval architect and prolific writer L. Francis Herreshoff (Bristol, R.I./Marblehead, Mass.); 1960 5.5 Metre Olympic Gold Medalist and boat builder George O’Day (Brookline, Mass./Dover, Mass.); and Grand Prix yachtsman John B. “Jim” Kilroy (Marina del Rey, Calif.), the recipient of the hall’s first Lifetime Achievement Award.
