Skip Novak was presented with Cruising Club of America’s (CCA) Blue Water Medal for 2014 in recognition of his many years of cruising and Antarctic exploration. The Club’s Blue Water Medal was established in 1923 as a way to recognize examples of meritorious seamanship and adventure upon the sea by sailors of all nationalities.
CCA Commodore Frederic T. Lhamon presented the award at the club’s annual awards dinner at the New York Yacht Club in March.
Novak was born in 1952 and started sailing at an early age. In addition to extensive cruising, he has to his credit four Whitbread around-the-world races and, in 2001, co-skippered the 33-meter catamaran Innovation in The Race Around The World in 65 Days.
Aboard Pelagic, a steel cutter that he designed and built in 1987, he has spent 26 seasons in Tierra del Fuego, South Georgia and Antarctica. Needing a larger boat, he now sails Pelagic Australis, a 74-foot aluminum cutter built in South Africa in 2003.
Novak is well known for his lectures and publications. He has also written two books, “Fazisl the Joint Adventure” and “One Watch at a Time: Around the World with Drum on the Whitbread Race.”
He lives with his family in Hout Bay, South Africa.