Nicholas H. “Nico” Walsh, of Freeport, Maine, is the recipient of the Cruising Club of America’s 2024 Royal Cruising Club Trophy for his outstanding cruise, including circumnavigation of the Isle of Mull in the western isles of Scotland, which served as a preview of the July 2025 CCA Scotland Cruise. Gifted to the CCA by the Royal Cruising Club, the Trophy is awarded to a CCA member and skipper who has undertaken “the most interesting cruise of singular merit and moderate duration,” as judged by the Awards Committee and editors of the CCA’s Voyages magazine. It has been awarded annually since 1998.

“Channeling Eric Hiscock,” Walsh’s delightful and informative article in the 2025 Voyages, uses CCA 1955 Blue Water Medal winner Hiscock’s 1938 descriptions of a similar cruise for comparison. The cruise, aboard Far and Away, Walsh’s Cabo Rico 34, commenced in the River Clyde estuary, then around the Mull of Kintyre, through the currents of the Sound of Jura, thence around the Isle of Mull to Iona, and onward past Ardnamurchan to Skye, and northward. Walsh found that the rocks and kelp had not moved since Eric’s time. The villages are still quaint and welcoming, but there are, of course, more boats. The weather, when not pristine, typically brought its low Scottish clouds, cold rain, and hard, katabatic winds, as Hiscock described. 

Nothing could distract from the natural beauty nor the sporty sailing, anchoring, and hikes ashore. Thinking of next year’s similar cruise planned by the CCA, Walsh included piloting notes lyrically interspersed with tales of adventure in new harbors, as well as friendly encounters. Given the upcoming CCA cruise, this article’s author certainly deserves the distinction of receiving the Royal Cruising Club Trophy.