John Edwards sported a curious look on his face as he listened to the introduction of the “Paul Washburn Award – For the Love of the Sport.” That new perpetual award, to be presented annually during the skipper’s meeting prior to the start of Acura Key West, is designed to recognize Key West participants who possess an obvious and true love of sailing, work hard to grow the sport and always display sportsmanship on and off the race course.

    As presenter Ken Legler provided background information about this year’s award winner, the expression on Edwards’ face became more and more quizzical. After all, many of the descriptions seemed to fit Edwards and his wife Linda.

   Well-known husband and wife team that are veterans of 10 Key West Race Weeks: Check.

   Influential in starting and keeping their J/29 one-design class active and involved: Check.

   Many a Chesapeake Bay sailor has learned to sail and learned to love the sport while crewing aboard their boat: Check.

   Instilled their love of the sport in their two children and sailing has always been a family affair: Check.

   When Legler said the Southern Maryland Sailing Association is proud to have these Solomons, Maryland-based folks as members, it was obvious he was talking about John and Linda Edwards.

   Truly dumbfounded and totally taken aback by the unexpected award, Edwards handed his beer to a friend and hugged his wife. It was obvious that both were still in disbelief as they strode to the podium hand-in-hand to accept the Paul Washburn Award.

   “I am really surprised… pleasantly surprised,” Edwards said.

   Tears flowed among long-time Rhumb Punch crew members as they joined the audience of Key West sailors in applauding John and Linda, who have made many friends while campaigning their J/29 of that name up and down the East Coast.

   In reality, John and Linda should not have been surprised about being selected to receive an award “For the Love of the Sport.” The couple, who race out of Solomons, but actually live in California, Md., have exhibited the characteristics that define the award ever since they took up the sport in 1979.

   The Edwards were power-boaters up until the gas crisis of the late 1970s. Looking to continue spending time on the water, but in a less expensive way, they purchased an Edel 22 and began sailing out of the Eastern Shore town of Oxford. In 1988, the couple upgraded to the J/29 and began racing and cruising the Chesapeake with their two children, Regan and Patrick.

   Introduced to Solomons through the old Audi-Yachting Race Week (now the Screwpile Lighthouse Challenge), the Edwards’ fell in love with the southern Maryland area and moved there from Seaford, Del. They quickly became active members with the Southern Maryland Sailing Association and began enjoying tremendous success on the race course.

   Rhumb Punch captured the J/29 North American championship in 2006 then garnered class honors at Acura Key West 2007 by winning eight of nine races. There were also many wins in other notable events such as the Governor’s Cup and Screwpile.

   Along the way, the Edwards introduced many newcomers to the sport of sailing. Among those were numerous troubled youths, orphans and foreign exchange students that stayed at their home and became part of their extended family.

   “Many of our club members started out as new crew on Rhumb Punch,” reports Herb Reese, a long-time member of the Southern Maryland Sailing Association and also a regular of the race committee at Key West. “John and Linda have always been focused on building participation in sailing.”

   John and Linda have always unselfishly volunteered their time and talents as active members of their local clubs and committees. They were leaders within the J/29 class and have routinely served on the race committee during their 15 years as members of SMSA.

   “Many times, John will pull his boat from the race course to fill in if people who were supposed to do race committee duties fail to show,” Reese said.

   Looking for a new challenge, the Edwards’ reluctantly sold their beloved J/29 last year and moved into the Farr 30 class. Despite having zero preparation time on the new boat, the couple competed at Acura Key West 2008 and narrowly missed out on a Top 10 finish in a 15-boat fleet. That despite the fact John was still learning how to steer the sport boat.

   The Edwards and Rhumb Punch are back again this year and hoping for a mid-fleet finish in Farr 30 class. John has steadily improved as an owner-driver thanks largely to the help of Quantum professional Clarke McKinney, a fellow Solomons resident who serves as tactician.

   “Last year, I hit three marks and two boats in one week. I will probably do better this year and I imagine the rest of the class hopes I do also,” John said in typical self-deprecating fashion.

  In addition to McKinney, other regular crew members aboard Rhumb Punch include Geoff Rhodes, Shawn Stanley and Joe Szymanski. Patrick and Regan routinely help their parents around the race course while son-in-law Tom Weaver, a former professional sailor, has recently joined the team.

  “Everything we do is designed to foster a family atmosphere aboard the boat. The camaraderie is crucial and we don’t yell out on the race course,” John Edwards said. “If something goes wrong or someone messes up, we say ‘Don’t worry about it, we’ll make up for it at the next mark rounding.’  ”

   John and Linda, known affectionately to crew members as Papa and Mama, have allowed a remarkable number of Rhumb Punch crew members to live at their home – whether four weeks or four years in one case.

   “John is just an easy-going guy with a great personality who has a way of keeping everyone smiling on and off the boat,” McKinney said. “For as long as I have been sailing with the Edwards, it’s been a total family affair: Linda handles all the logistics, Patrick does a lot of the boat preparation and Regan does a great job of pulling together the crew.”

   Steve Washburn, a veteran member of the Premiere Racing team in Key West, established the “For the Love of the Sport” award in honor of his youngest son. Paul Washburn became enamored of sailing while cruising to Catalina Island on the family’s Columbia 52 and racing off Long Beach aboard their B-25 T-Rex.

   Paul began his own sailing career by racing Sabot’s out of Alamitos Bay Yacht Club and was named “Outstanding Beginning Sailor.” Sadly, the youngster died of natural causes at the tender age of 10, one day after competing in the ABYC “Inverted Start” race.

Bill Wagner

2008 - Inaugural  - Bruce Ayres, Newport Beach CA  read more...... (pdf)

 All awards photos courtesy Ken Stanek / KenStanek.com