Each year the International Superyacht Society (ISS) bestows design awards on a handful of yachts, singling them out from all launches from around the world for achieving the utmost in engineering, style, and performance. The battle among the 25 nominees, both power and sail, is sometimes close, and the award ceremony, held during the Fort Lauderdale International Boat Show, is, as you’d expect, always well-attended. Also as you’d expect, the yachts garner a lot of publicity both before and after the competition.
Which is why I’d rather direct you to the ISS Web site to see the complete list and instead focus on two other equally important awards ISS grants at the same time–ones that don’t get as much publicity from us in the media. They’re the Distinguished Crew Awards, recognition from the marine industry as well as yacht owners for outstanding performance. The goal is to honor crewmembers, through an individual award as well as a team award, who have demonstrated the highest standards to which all professional crew aspire. Last year’s recipients were the captain and the full crew of Mirabella V, for saving the lives of two men who appeared to have fallen overboard from a sinking ship in Greek waters but who had actually been thrown overboard from a tramp ship.
Crewmembers are the unsung heroes of this business; without them, we’d have no beautiful yachts to admire or own. I urge you to submit a nomination. Contact ISS at (954) 525-6625 or via e-mail at info@superyachtsociety.org.
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