Page 34 - ECA Yearbook 2023

2012 Hall of Fame Inductees

Linda Petrat - The longest known distance traveled in an Ensign.
Sailed from Kittery, Maine to Sarasota, Florida, unofficially over 1600 miles. Departed Oct.
1, 2011 and reached Sarasota on Jan. 18, 2012 in #544 SUMMER WIND.

Fleet 63 - Hosting the most National Championship Regattas.
Hosted in 1983, 1987, 1995, 2002, 2007, and 2013. It also has contributed two National
Commodores and two National Champions.
2017 Hall of Fame Inductee
Ed Bluestein - Most important ecological contributions by an Ensign sailor.
Ed was an active force in keeping the upper Galveston Bay a good place to race and sail.
When an oil company was making plans to drill oil wells in this racing area, he brought
together the Corps of Engineers the oil company and the environmental groups to allow
“slant” drilling from Atkinson Island. Fleet 2 owes its current wonderful cruising and racing
area to Ed. He was also very active in defeating the Port’s recent “mud island” plan for
disposal of “dredge material.”
Sailing “Adjourn” he won many local and regional regattas. Most remembered was the
2002 Region IV Championships in which he not only won all the races with a clean sweep,
but also lead at all the marks.

2019 Hall of Fame Inductee

Vince Morvillo - First and only blind sailor to ever win the ECA National
Championship.
In 2004 Vince won his first Ensign National Championship in Newport, RI with 41 boats
attending and 8 total races. Vince’s overall score was 15 points with 2nd place at 25 points
and 3rd place at 37 points. Vince has a long list of accomplishments including winning the
1999 and 2000 ECA Region IV Regionals. In 2001 he won the Gold at the World Blind
Sailing Championship to go with the bronze and silver medals he won in prior world Blind
Sailing events. Vince’s motto is “What you believe is what you achieve.” He notes that with
blindness you have to see with vision, not with sight.

2020 Hall of Fame Inductee

Kay Snider - Longest serving Governing Committee member.
Kay has served as our ECA Treasurer for over 14 years. She has not only kept the ECA on
an even keel financially but also has been the guiding force in the Youth Sponsorship
Program, Boat Brokerage, Historian, and much more. The 2010 recipient of the Sea III
Award, Kay is an expert sailor who has crewed for husband Dean in each of their
successful racing achievements including first place in four ECA National Championships -
1987, 1988, 1998, 2003.

2023 Hall of Fame Inductee

Richard Crisler - The most documented instructor of sailing students on the Ensign
Richard, a 37-year member of Miami's Fleet 8 has the spectacular recognition of teaching
more students on Ensigns than any other instructor of whom we are aware. He began
teaching in the 1990s and was still teaching in 2022. The number of adult students he
taught is over 4,000. He has also helped arrange for the sale of several Ensigns to new
sailors. We wish Richard continued teaching success for many years to come.
32