Arthur Wullschleger Wins US Sailing’s
Harman Hawkins Award
October 23, 2010
Phoenix, AZ
Lifelong LYC member and past commodore, Arthur “Tuna” Wullschleger, was honored at US Sailing’s Annual Meeting with the Harman Hawkins Award for his outstanding contributions to the sport of sailing in the field of race administration. Wullschleger is well known for his service as a national and international judge and umpire, and is credited with being one of the developers of the on-the-water umpiring that is now a fixture in match and team racing regattas.
Wullschleger was born and raised in Larchmont, grew up in the junior program, and joined the Club in 1948. Wullschleger raced Interclub dinghies for over 35 years and served as commodore from 1971 to 1973, then as Club Treasurer from 1973 until 1979, before being named an honorary member in 1996. Prior to his many accomplishments as a sailor and judge, Wullschleger began his nautical career as a champion powerboat racer, winning the U.S. Amateur Championships in hydroplaning outboards before serving as a Navy Commander in the Pacific during World War II.
After the war, Wullschleger returned to Larchmont and had a successful career running the family textile business. He owned many offshore sailboats named Golliwog. Wullschleger competed in six transatlantic races, five Fastnet races, 18 Newport to Bermuda races and over 20 SORCs. Along the way, “Tuna”, as he is known to his sailing colleagues, was a founding member of the Storm Trysail Club and was instrumental in organizing the first Block Island Race Weeks. After serving as commodore of LYC and Storm Trysail, Tuna organized several New York YC America’s Cup syndicates in the 1970s and 1980s, including Ted Turner’s campaign in 1980 and the America II syndicate in 1987.
During his Cup years, when he wasn’t involved in the Maxi and 50-foot racing circuit, Wullschleger became an active judge. His work, along with that of ISAF President Goran Petersson and Tom Ehman, led to the creation of on-the-water umpiring, seen first in the 1987 Maxi Cup and the 1988 Congressional Cup, and, now, standard at match and team races internationally. Even though Tuna is 93-years young, he is still a fixture as a judge and arbitrator at high profile international events, including Key West Race Week, Antigua Race Week, and the International Rolex Regatta.
The Harman Hawkins Award is the latest in a long list of recognitions for Wullschleger, who also won US Sailing’s Nathaniel G. Herreshoff Trophy in 1998 for outstanding contributions to the sport of sailing, ISAF’s Gold Medal for outstanding service to the International Sailing Federation in 1999, and the Commodore’s Award from the Cruising Club of America in 2009.
LYC’s Mary Savage also won the Harman Hawkins Award in 2007. For more on Wullschleger, please read the press release from US Sailing or the June 2009 article from Caribbean Waterfront Magazine.
