I love awarding the prizes for Sailstice. I get a huge mix of responses. Some from doubters:
I've never won anything before...I thought it was spam! What do I need to do? ..........Tony
no, somehow I missed this! .......... Now, Abby, are we sure this ins't some kind of scam? :-).............Kris
Some from people excited to have won something:
It's a nice surprise to win and thank you for the hat. ................Paul
Some people excited to win a big prize but are so honest they don't take the prize when they don't need it :
And as fate would have it, just last week he removed the original one and replaced some 'doo-hicky' and the deck switch, and blamo - it works just fine! The bummer is I never win anything - I hope this does not count as one against me ! But really, thanks for planting the seed and I have another boat project out of the way, so to send anything to me now would just be a waste of your time and equipment. See you guys on the water next June's Sailstice, on Showtime !
and then the prize giver insists on giving something to him anyway:
Oh no no. You don't get off that easy! I am sending you a Vetus catalog so you can pick out some other stuff for your boat!.........Jay Stockmann
and sometimes you line up the perfect prize with the perfect reciptient:
We awarded Rob with a printed chart from Ocean Grafix: Wow! That is great news! Thank you so much. I keep my boat, Bay Poet, in Rock Hall, MD on the Chesapeake Bay. I am a die-hard printed chart user. I will be happy to get you some photos of the chart in use......... Capt. Rob
I get great stories of people racing, cruising and yacht club parties (this year included a wedding, a birthday and tons of great parties) and overnight raftups, family time on the boat, singlehanders enjoying the water, dinghy sailors on lakes bashing around, and sailing instructors bringing new folks into the sailing community.
As a professional mariner myself it warms my heart to see the diversity of this community and great to see the pics and hear the stories of all kinds of sailing happening all across the world. So no this isn't a scam. We just love celebrating sailing and connecting the diverse community. We love highlighting all the partners of Summer Sailstice who make the boats and products that keep this industry and the boats you sail afloat and the chance to make someone feel like a winner with some new things for the everlasting list of things needed for boats and sailors. That being said I think we can all agree the real win is sailing around on a boat on the longest day of the year while celebrating Summer Sailstice.
Abby
