Trophies and Awards

The CMCS has a long tradition of special awards and recognition in all of areas of our club programs. Learn more about some of of unique awards and their history.  To review the Society’s most honored participants, please enter our TROPHY ARCHIVES.

Racing Fleet Championship Point System

CMCS’ racing program currently uses the West Florida Performance Handicap Race Fleet (WFPHRF) System for handicapping its fleet. There are currently four classes – Multi-Hull, Spinnaker, Non-Spinnaker and True Cruising Classes.

Boats are scored in each class using the following formula:

• First Place – Number of boats starting plus 1 point
• Second Place – Number of boats starting plus 0 points
• Third Place – Number of boats starting minus 1 point
• Fourth Place – Number of boats minus two points (This progression continues for the entire number of boats starting a race)
• A DNS or DNC will not be scored
• A DNF will score 1 point
• A boat that registers to race but must serve as race committee will be scored points equal to the second place finisher in its section
• Boats are scored, not skippers
• To qualify, a boat must have competed in at least 50% of the scored races
• A boat must accrue at least 10 points to qualify

Trophies will be awarded for first place and honorable mentions given based on the average number of starters in each class.

• For classes with fewer than three average starters – First Place
• For classes with three to fewer than five average starters – First and Second Place (honorable mention*)
• For classes with five or more average starters – First, Second (honorable mention*) and Third Place (honorable mention*)

The True Cruising Class Fleet Champion Trophy

The scoring for True Cruising Class is enumerated above.  Historically, CMCS had trophies for the yearly champions in spinnaker and non-spinnaker classes for some years.  However, when WFPHRF created the True Cruising Class, we were without a trophy for this class.

Trudy Morris graciously donated one of her husbands’ trophies to us for this purpose. Truman, her husband, passed away a number of years ago. He was a charter member of CMCS, raced for at least 40 years and was competitive into his 80s. He competed against Dennis Conner, Ted Turner, Charlie Morgan and others in the old “SORC”, which at the time was the premier racing venue in the U.S. Truman also raced the Isla Mujeres Race, the Miami – Montego Bay, Jamaica Race, doing both several times. I raced with and against Truman several times in the Clearwater to Key West and Naples to Key West races.

Truman was a great friend and I remember him fondly.  This gift honors his memory. As Abraham Lincoln said “It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do so.”

Tom Gore, Rear Commodore Racing 2006

Cruising and Exploration Trophy

The Cruising and Exploration trophy honors the skipper of the boat that has logged the most cruising points. Each cruise is scored giving one point for each mile traveled from Marker 101, plus a 50 point bonus.

• A minimum of 8 sanctioned cruise events must be attended.
• A non-sanctioned cruise event will be scored if 5 member boats attend, they stay together throughout the cruise, the event is not part of another club’s scheduled activities, and the organizers announce the event by publishing it in the Chowder Chatter at least three weeks prior to the event.
• The points awarded will be limited to 500 per cruise. It is the responsibility of the organizers to keep an account of the participating boats and the destinations reached.
• This must be reported to the Rear Commodore of Cruising.
• Boats are scored, skippers are not.

Bomgardner Trophy

The Bomgardner Trophy honors the most “well-rounded” CMCS members by rewarding participation in racing, cruising and racing/cruising events. It is a perpetual trophy donated by Bud Bomgardner.

 To be eligible for the Bomgardner Trophy:

• A member must participate in at least one-third of the club’s scheduled race events, and at least one-third of the club’s scheduled cruise events.
• The member must be a regular or honorary member of CMCS in good standing.
• The award is based upon a member’s participation, not a boat’s participation.
• Since many of our club’s memberships are based upon a household, the award may go to multiple people within a single household.

Members will receive cruising and racing points independently. For race/cruise events, it is not necessary to participate in the cruise to earn race points and it is not necessary to participate in the race to earn cruise points. Each member earns participation points based on the following criteria.

 Racing Events:

• Each skipper participating in a race event will receive 6 points per day of racing.
• Points are awarded only for CMCS sponsored or co-sponsored races.
• A skipper must start at least one race on a particular race day to qualify.
• A DNF may count for participation. A DNS does not count.
• Points are not transferable nor sharable from one membership to another.
• The skipper is not required to be the helmsman.
• The skipper must be one of the boat’s owners and onboard.
• Working on the committee boat for a race day will be counted as participation.

 Cruising Events:

• Each member participating in a cruise (not land cruisers) will receive 5 points per scheduled night of a cruise. To clarify: if a cruise is scheduled for two nights, arriving early or departing late does not earn extra points. If a cruise is scheduled for two nights and a boat stays overnight both nights it earns 10 points. If the boat leaves after the one night or doesn’t arrive until the second night, it receives 5 points.
• Points will be awarded only for CMCS sanctioned cruises. A sanctioned cruise is one on the CMCS calendar, or accepted by the Board and communicated to the membership.
• Cruise leaders are responsible for reporting the participation of members, including the number of “cruise nights”, to the Rear Commodore-Cruising.

 The boat meeting the above criteria, and earning the most points in a year, receives the honor.

The scoring period shall include the preceding year’s Holiday Cruise, up to, but not including, the current year’s Holiday Cruise.