2021 S1D/Sailing Coach(es) of the Year Announced!

Sail1Design has been lucky to be part of some great moments over the years, mostly when we do our job, and take part in recognizing the very foundation of our sport: youth, high school, college, and one-design sailors. Reading nomination letters, hearing from our community about unsung heroes, sharing in the joy of the winners…… makes the whole Sail1Design project, now 14+ years in the making, more than worth it. Thanks to Sailing Anarchy for sponsoring this award and being a great steward of our sport of sailing over the years!! People this year definitely did speak their mind!

Remember, for Coach of the Year, we only choose candidates from nomination letters sent in, so we sit back, wait, and take what we get. This year, we were faced (again) with a lot of really good nominations, and we whittled that down to a small list of finalists. It was difficult to narrow this deserving field. Not easy. After going back and forth, noting two candidates received more than one nomination letter, we were overwhelmed with both, and decided the tie could not be broken! There were several important themes found in both winner’s nomination letters (dedication, knowledge, energy, positivity).  However, one overriding theme for both, in this crazy and difficult year, was each coaches willingness, dedication, and openness to ALL sailors and their respective improvement and love of the sport, not just top-end talent. There are more important things than results. So this year, S1D Coach of the Year Award goes to Maru Urban and Bobby Lippincott. Both received multiple letters not only from players, but parents as well. Bobby, in fact, now holds the all-time record for nomination letters, blowing away the previous record held by Yale’s Bill Healy.

Maru and Bobby add their names to an incredibly impressive list. Here are our former winners:
S1D Coach of the Year Winners

2020- John Mollicone
2019- Jon Faudree
2018- Scott Iklé
2017- Bill Healy
2016- Bill Ward
2015- Frank Pizzo
2014- Chris Dold
2013- Steve Hunt

Nomination Letter Excerpts for Maru Urban
Maru singlehandedly turned the Laser/ILCA dinghy into the premier single handed platform for junior sailors.  Yes, he is a great coach and the results of his team I think speak for themselves, but I think there is a lot more that Maru deserves credit for.  

For most of us, Bobby has been much more than the person who took our kids from newbie summer sailors to being competitive at a national level.  He has been the mentor, friend, and role model who has taught our kids as much about sportsmanship, inclusion, perseverance, and self-reliance as he has about sailing.  I’ve traveled with Bobby’s team to countless regattas in my daughter’s several years of serious competitive sailing and seen Bobby tackle the inevitable setbacks – no wind, broken gear, broken trailer, disappointing races – with relentless optimism.  Problems are fixable or they are learning experiences: either way, Bobby is going to be proud of his kids and ready to make each discouraging moment a teachable one.