At this year’s Hall of Fame awards ceremony, Herreshoff Marine Museum’s President and Executive Director, Bill Lynn, along with Hall of Fame Selection Committee Chair Steven Tsuchiya, and emcee Gary Jobson, presented the new class: sailors Josh Belsky, of the United States, Juan Vila, of Spain, Kevin Shoebridge, of New Zealand, and the late yachting journalist Bob Fisher, of the United Kingdom.
The Hall of Fame also recognised the contributions of Louis Vuitton and Italian sailor and team principal Vinceno Ricci, of Italy. Both were presented with Sir Richard Francis Sutton medals, created in 2018 to recognize individuals and entities that “exemplify the spirit of the America’s Cup.”
Ricci, the skipper and project manager of the first-ever Italian America’s Cup challenge in 1983, the campaign of Azzura, which finished third in the Louis Vuitton Cup during the famous Cup summer of Australia II’s historic win. Now 90 and unable to attend the ceremony, Ricci is said to have inspired Italians to pursue a Cup victory over a span of 40 years.
