Click to enlarge
The Harry Gale Nye Trophy
Awarded for recognition of an indiviudal's outstanding contribution to the ISCYRA
This trophy is named for Harry Gale Nye (1908-1987) who was twice Star World Champion (1942 and 1949), and served as Commodore of the Star Class from 1955 to 1963. He also won the Bacardi Cup and the Cup of Cuba three times each. A graduate of Yale University, Nye was for many years the owner of Murphy & Nye Sailmakers, Chicago, Illinois, USA.
On and off the water, Harry was a major contributor to the growth of the class and the overall yachting community. Beyond his yachting, Harry was deeply involved in the 1946 rewrite of the International Yacht Racing Rules.
On the water, Harry began sailing on C-scows, Iceboats, then E-Scows on Lake Michigan, winning the Inland Lake Yachting Association Championship in 1929, 1930 and again in 1933, the same year he started Murphy & Nye Sailmakers. He soon turned to Stars and, using his own cut and sewn sails where he first won the Worlds in a war-reduced fleet in 1942 on his home water in Chicago. Certainly it was no fluke, as he proved when the first full post-war fleet assembled in Chicago, again in 1949, and he took his second Gold Star win. Not limited to smaller boats, Harry also skippered the winning yacht in the Chicago to Mackinac race in both 1950 and 1951.
As an innovator, Nye affected the Star class and beyond, starting with sails sewn for Square Riggers and fore-n-aft Schooners. Obviously, he featured his own sails on his winning Stars, all named “Gale”, and was among the first to experiment with synthetic materials for sail cloth. Murphy & Nye was the go-to sailmaker for Stars in the 50s, until a previously little-known Lowell North appeared on the scene. Additionally, he also perfected one of the first boom vangs for a Star, originally called the “go-fast.” In his post-racing days, Nye was among the first to warm up to the use of “foiling”. In 1962, he designed, built and launched the 40’ Enterprise, the first Coast Guard-approved hydrofoil for use in commercial service, operated as a commuter ferry between New Jersey and Manhattan, having proven his skills on hard and soft water and now, skimming above the water.
| YEAR |
BOAT |
SKIPPER |
CREW |
FLEET |
ENTRIES |
LOCATION |
RESULTS |
Star Class Honoring the Past, Leading the Future
