The Tony Dahlman Trophy
The Tony Dahlman Trophy

Last year at the ILCA US Masters Regatta – I received the Tony Dahlman Trophy which is given to the sailor who finishes in the middle of the fleet that includes full rig lasers. This award has been hanging out at the house and after engraving is now set to be re-united with a friend of Tony’s who helped establish the award in his honor – Richard Leland.

I never had the honor of meeting Tony or crossing tacks with him – he passed away in 2009 – but I appreciate the spirit he had for ILCA sailing and hope to do my best to embody that and pass it on.

Here’s what was posted on the ILCA class website at the time:

Tony Dahlman, a Laser Master sailor from Marysville, California, passed away unexpectedly this past weekend while attending the Laser Masters’ US Championship in Monterey, California. He was sailing the first race of the series when he was stricken. A safety boat immediately came to his aid and rushed him to a waiting ambulance at the Coast Guard pier in the Monterey harbor. He was then transported to the local hospital where he died the next day. All of the sailors at the event as well as the entire Laser Class wish to extend their deepest sympathies to Tony’s wife and family during this difficult time.

laser.org – August 17, 2009

And the deed of gift for the award reads:

DEED OF GIFT
TONY DAHLMAN TROPHY

Gift. The undersigned, on behalf of the laser sailors of District 24, hereby gives to the Laser Class Association of North America a perpetual trophy consisting of a half model of a full rig laser mounted on a cherry wood plaque, 18″ by 24″, bearing the sail number 185526, to be known as the “Tony Dahlman Trophy.”

Purpose. The purpose of the Tony Dahlman award is to honor Tony Dahlman, a master laser sailor and member of the Tahoe Yacht Club, renowned for his dedication to laser sailing, and to recognize master sailors who compete for the fun of sailing and the opportunity to improve rather than finishing at the top of the fleet.

Selection Process. The trophy is to be presented to the competitor who finishes in the middle of the fleet of registered overall competitors at the U.S. Masters Championship each year. If the regatta is divided into separately scored fleets the trophy shall go to the competitor who finishes in the middle of the fleet that includes the master full rig lasers. If two sailors are equally close to the middle of the fleet, the trophy shall go to the competitor with the better finish according to the Racing Rules of Sailing. The determination of the winner of the Tony Dahlman Trophy each year shall be made by the regatta chairman whose decision shall be final.

Rededication. In the event of insufficient interest or for any other reason this trophy may be rededicated by the Laser Class Association of North America.

Care of Trophy. The winner of the trophy each year may, at his or her option, retain the trophy until the next U.S. Laser Masters Championship; provided that such winner assumes the duties set out on the attached Assumption of Duties. If the winner does not so elect to take possession of the trophy, the Laser Class Association of North America shall have it shipped to the Association’s offices, or other location specified by the Association, engrave it with the winner’s name and yacht club in Century OSSL font, store it, deliver it to the following year’s U.S. Laser Masters Championship, and at that event give it to the winner determined in the manner described above; provided that the winner assumes the duties set out on the attached Assumption of Duties. If the winner elects not to so take possession of the trophy, the Laser Class Association of North America shall retain it and perform the above duties the next year.

Jon Deutsch of Fishing Bay Yacht Club receiving the Tony Dahlman award at the 2022 ILCA US Masters Championship at Hampton Yacht Club
Jon receiving the Tony Dalhman trophy at the 2022 ILCA US Masters

To date the winners have been:

YearWinnerClub Represented
2010Ben HagoodSullivan’s Island, SC
2011Terry McMahonMilwaukee Yacht Club
2012Michael ParramoreSevern Sailing Association
2013Greg JacksonPort Madison Yacht Club
2014Chris KlotzBritannia Yacht Club
2015Chris BoomeSt. Francis Yacht Club
2016John TagliamonteWinchester Boat Club
2017Simon BellRichmond Yacht Club
2018Scott WilliamsonSevern Sailing Association
2019Lance KimTreasure Island Sailing Club
2021Claudio FassaradiMission Bay Yacht Club
2022Jon DeutschFishing Bay Yacht Club

Ever since the Chesapeake Bay Laser Masters Championship Trophy was completed in 2011 it never really took it’s place on display upstairs in the club house at Fishing Bay Yacht Club among the other trophies there. Primarily because it was too heavy to hang and there was no suitable place to prop it up and thus it lacked a stand. So my Dad and I recently made folding legs for the trophy using some of the left over wood from the original project. Now the trophy is on display in the club house just a few feet from where the old trophy used to hang next to the TV.

PICTURES

Original Chesapeake Bay Laser Masters Championship trophy
original trophy

The Chesapeake Bay Laser Masters Championship has been sailed by Laser sailors over the age of 35 since 1981.  In the early years of the regatta Alain Vincey had beautiful plates made that were given to the competitors as prizes.  The last of these plates was made into a perpetual trophy for the regatta.  About 10 years ago the trophy fell over, and the ceramic plate was shattered.  The plate was painstakingly repaired and has hung in the clubhouse ever since.

As great of a trophy as it was, I wanted to be sure the plate would be protected and that the regatta would have a trophy that would last for years to come.  With those goals in mind, I planned a trophy that looks like a serving tray with sides that would protect the plate mounted to it.  And although I’m not yet of age to sail in Masters regattas, I made sure there would enough room for winners to cover well past the time that I ‘age out’ of Laser masters sailing.

The trophy was built at the beginning of October out of 13 pieces of 3/4″ mahogany.

Laser Masters Trophy

 

Next chocks were made to hold the plate in place and the plaques were aligned and drilled.

Aligning plaques on the Laser Masters Trophy

The trophy was then finished in a natural glossy finish.

Laser Masters trophy finish

Then the rope border was mounted.

Laser masters trophy mounting the rope border

Finally the plate and plaques were mounted to complete the trophy.

Chesapeake Bay Laser Masters Championship Trophy

Winners at the 30th Chesapeake Bay Laser Masters Championship on October 15-16, 2011.

189794 Keith Davids, 199142 Newton Wattis, 186519 Dorian Haldeman, 121384 Mike Schmidt, 191498 Alain Vincey, 174236 Jacques Kerrest, 194512 Ted Morgan, 188095 David Schoene

More pictures of the trophy and the build process can be seen here.

I want to thank my father, Stan, for his help and tools.  And thanks to Alain Vincey for the kicking off the regatta years ago and providing the plate and original trophy for it.

District 11 has a new perpetual trophy to honor the Laser Radial District 11 Champions.  It was built around the original Standard Laser District 11 Championship trophy and features the names of the 7 champions we’ve had so far.

Original District 11 Championship Trophy
Original District 11 Championship Trophy

The original Standard Laser District 11 Championship trophy was built in 1979 by Mike Waters using a relief of a Laser created by his wife, Jane Waters.  Over the years this trophy was lost to time and in the mid-1990’s a new Standard Laser District 11 Championship trophy was created.  The original trophy was found about 5 years ago and the champions listed on it were used to populate the new trophy going back to 1972.

The original trophy was given to me when I became District Secretary and I thought it was a shame not to put such a nice piece of art to use and to loose a valuable contribution to our District.  We’ve started to have a consistent showing of Radials at our District Championship.  I thought – why not recognize Laser Radial champions and give Radials a trophy to sail for.

trophy plans
Trophy plan

The new Laser Radial District 11 trophy was designed to use the relief in the original trophy.  Since Mike was a boat builder and used the best boat-building adhesives to affix the relief to the original board, it would have been too difficult to separate the relief from the board without breaking it.  So the new trophy had to be built around it.

The new trophy would feature the relief in the center, a plaque with the name of the trophy at the top, room for the 7 known Laser Radial District 11 Champions and room for the next 36.

Construction of the trophy began at the end of August.  First the old board was cut away around the relief.  Then mahogany boards were joined and a hole cut for the relief.

Mahogany boards cut and joined around the relief.

Next a groove was routed around the edge and a frame was added to cover the threshold between the new wood and the old board that the relief was affixed to.

Groove and frame

Then the trophy was polyurethaned and the plaques were mounted to it.

Mounting plaques

The final touch was adding the rope to complete the trophy.

Laser Radial District 11 Championship Trophy

More pictures of the trophy and the build process can be seen here.

I want to thank my father, Stan, for his help and tools.  I also want to thank Mike Waters and his wife for creating the original trophy and for the fleets and individuals who have helped fund the materials to build the trophy.