For a cruise of 33,000 miles including both Arctic ice and Antarctic ice in a forty foot ketch with essentially zero material casualties.
The prestigious Blue Water Medal was inaugurated by the Cruising Club of America in 1923 to:
reward meritorious seamanship and adventure upon the sea displayed by amateur sailors of all nationalities, that might otherwise go unrecognized.
Blue Water Medallists have included such luminaries of the sailing world as Rod Stephens, Eric and Susan Hiscock, Sir Francis Chichester, Eric Tabarly, Pete Goss, Bernard Moitessier, and Sir Robin Knox-Johnston..
The Medal itself was designed by Arthur Sturgis Hildebrand, a member of the Cruising Club of America, who was one of the crew of the yacht Leiv Eiriksson, lost in the Arctic with all hands in September of 1923
