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The Barnegat Bay Sailing Hall of Fame (BBSHOF) has announced the inductees for its class of 2023. This is the eighth such class inducted, the first having been named in 2004. The expressed purpose of the BBSHOF is to nominate and select those sailors with ties to Barnegat Bay who have achieved excellence in the sport of sailing and/or contributed to the sport of sailing on Barnegat Bay in some extraordinary manner.
A formal induction ceremony will take place at Bay Head Yacht Club on 19 November 2023.
This year’s BBSHOF inductees are:
1) Harry Sindle - Lavallette Yacht Club
A six-time National Champion in the Flying Dutchman Class, Mr. Sindle won a Gold Medal in that class at the 1959 Pan American Games, then represented the United States at the 1960 Olympic Games in Rome, and later finished second to the great Buddy Melges at the 1964 Olympic Trials, all in the Flying Dutchman. A Barnegat Bay Yacht Racing Association (BBYRA) Champion in both the Lightning and Flying Dutchman classes, Mr. Sindle was co-owner of the small sailboat manufacturer Siddons & Sindle located in Toms River, NJ. He later moved to Gloucester, VA where he managed Newport Boats. There he designed several popular daysailers and racing one-designs. Mr. Sindle is being inducted posthumously, he having passed away in 2020.
2) Sarah Mergenthaler Chin – Brant Beach Yacht Club
Ms. Chin represented the United States at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing crewing for
Amanda Clark in the Women’s 470 Class. More recently she crewed on the winning boat at the 2023 Lightning Class North American Championships and will represent the United States as crew in the Lightning Class at the upcoming Pan American Games to be held in Santiago, Chile. In addition, Ms. Chin serves on the Board of Directors and Regatta Committee of the United States Optimist Dinghy Association (USODA). She also serves as Director of the USODA National Team and on the USODA International Teams Selection Committee, all helping to develop the “next generation” of Olympians.
3) Michael Schoettle – Mantoloking Yacht Club
Mr. Schoettle was an alternate crew and sailed in one race on Britton Chance’s Gold Medal
winning the 5.5 meter in the 1952 Olympics in Helsinki, Finland. He continued to crew for
Chance, including winning the Soviet 5.5 meter Championship in Tallinn, Estonia. He was a crew alternate in the 1972 Olympics in Keil, Germany. He successfully skippered many small boats, including Finns, Sunfish, Cal 20s, and Ensigns. Mr. Schoettle served the sport of sailing in many capacities. He managed the sailing competition at the 1984 Olympics in Long Beach, California. From 1989 to 1992, he ran the U.S. Olympic Sailing program and was the Team Leader of the U.S. Team that won 9 medals out of 10 events in the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona, Spain. He was a Vice President of U.S. Sailing from 1998 to 2003. Mr. Schoettle follows his brother Andy, who was inducted into the BBSHOF in 2010.
4) Dave Magno – Lavallette Yacht Club
Mr. Magno’s extensive sailing resume includes winning a National Championship in the E Scow class in 1994, with 14 more top-ten finishes at other E Scow Nationals. He is also a two-time Eastern E Scow Champion and a nine-time BBYRA Champion at the helm of his E Scow, with four more BBYRA E Scow Championships as a crew. Sailing in Lasers, Mr. Magno has won 3 BBYRA Championships and 2 District 10 Championships. Sailing in M-16 Scows, Mr. Magno has won 2 Eastern District Championships and 2 more BBYRA Championships. Mr. Magno has also been a most active supporter of High School Sailing on Barnegat Bay, serving as the Primary Race Officer at many high-level NJISA and MASSA Championship Regattas. He has also previously served as Class Measurer for both the E Scow and M-16 Scow classes and currently serves as Measurer for the BBYRA.
5) Russell Lucas – Bay Head Yacht Club
Mr. Lucas has an exemplary racing record dating back to his Junior Sailing days, having won the Atlantic Coast Midget Championship and later finished 2nd in the Sears Cup National Finals. More recently, Mr. Lucas won the E Scow Eastern Championship in 2011 and 2012, won the 2016 E Scow Blue Chip Regatta, and won the 2016 Melges 20 National Championship. He is the only person to have won Eastern Championships in the E Scow, M16 Scow, and MC Scow. And lest we forget, Mr. Lucas is also a 10-time winner of the World Duckboat Championship. On the administrative side, Mr. Lucas is a past Commodore of the BBYRA and is currently finishing up his term on the US Sailing Board of Directors.
6) Peter Hurley – Mantoloking Yacht Club
Mr. Hurley has a long, distinguished racing record in both singlehanded and crewed racing
classes. Most notably, he won the Laser Radial North American Championship in 1989 and the U.S. Sailing Singlehanded (O’Day Trophy) Championship in 1993. Mr. Hurley participated in the Olympic Trials in Lasers in 1996 and 2000, finishing 4th in the latter. In 2010, Mr. Hurley won the E Scow National Championship. More recently, he has been extremely active and successful sailing in Laser (ILCA7) Masters regattas on the world stage, with several podium finishes both here and abroad, including a 1st at the 2022 ILCA7 Masters European Championship.
7) Jeff Bonanni – Toms River Yacht Club
Mr. Bonanni has been a champion in many different classes ever since his junior sailing days racing Optimist dinghies when he qualified for numerous USODA National Teams. He is a past National and North American Champion in Laser Radials. In the E Scow Class, Mr. Bonanni won the National Championship in 2015 (with a dominant scoring line of 1-1-1-1-2-5 in a 60-boat fleet), won Eastern Championships in 2018 and 2022, and won the ILYA Inland Championship in 2022 (the first Easterner ever to win that prestigious event). Mr. Bonanni is also quite active and very highly regarded as a racing coach, helping sailors who are graduating from the Optimist class by providing them with high[1]level coaching in the ILCA and Club 420. He also coaches several New Jersey High School Sailing Teams and even a highly touted Club 420 team from California.
8) Peter Sayia – Seaside Park Yacht Club
Mr. Sayia has been a champion sailor on Barnegat Bay ever since winning the BBYRA Junior Penguin title in 1965. Since then, he has raced competitively in Lasers, E Scows, A Cats, MC Scows, and most notably in Flying Scots. Mr. Sayia has won 18 BBYRA Championships in Flying Scots, including 12 of the last 13 years. Mr. Sayia is beloved for his Corinthian spirit that has seen him rewarded with the BBYRA’s George R. Powell Junior Sportsmanship Award in 1965 and the O.G. Dale Trophy for Sportsmanship in 2012. Mr. Sayia is also a Past Commodore of the Seaside Park Yacht Club and currently serves as Chair of the BBYRA’s Class Eligibility Committee.
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