The Cruising Club of America (CCA) is proud to announce that Leiv Poncet of the Falkland Islands is the recipient of the 2024 Blue Water Medal. This prestigious award, established to honor exceptional seamanship and adventure by amateur sailors, recognizes Poncet for his numerous intrepid high-latitude voyages around the world. His dedication to exploring the world’s most remote and challenging locations without fanfare exemplifies the spirit of this award.

With this honor—the highest CCA award, first granted 101 years ago—Poncet follows in the wake of other remarkable sailors including Bernard Moitessier, Eric and Susan Hiscock, Thies Matzen and Kicki Ericson, and Jean-Luc Van Den Heede.  Yet he is the first winner of the Blue Water Medal whose parents won it previously.  Jerome and Sally Poncet earned the same award in 1992 for their pioneering liveaboard voyaging in Antarctica and their publication of a handbook to voyaging in the region.

Leiv Poncet’s remarkable solo voyages over the past 25 years include his circumnavigation of the Southern Ocean, voyages from the Falkland Islands to the Aleutian Islands, and remarkable, first-ever, high latitude sea-kayaking trips.  His sailing achievements are further highlighted by his use of the 38-foot steel sloop, Peregrine, a French Trireme model, which has taken him to places like South Georgia and beyond. Throughout his sailing career, Poncet has not only demonstrated exceptional seamanship but also contributed to scientific research by using Peregrine as a base for ornithologists and other scientists.

Poncet was notified of his award while cruising the South Pacific Ocean, two weeks away from the Marquesas. In his grateful reply, he said that he felt the Blue Water Medal “is not entirely mine. I am only doing what I know how to do, what I grew up doing.” The CCA acknowledges that Poncet’s love for voyaging, driven by personal passion rather than the pursuit of recognition, truly embodies the essence of the Blue Water Medal.

The CCA honors Poncet’s legacy of exploration and his continued contributions to the sailing community. His humble acknowledgment of those who inspired him and his dedication to the sea make him a fitting recipient of this year’s Blue Water Medal.