This means that two more sailors have been honoured with awards that are among the highest in the sport. According to the laudation, the US-American Gary Jobson has "understood like no other how to harmonise his sailing skills and those of a media man".
Jobson's list of successes is impressively long: he was twice involved in America's Cup projects as tactician and co-skipper and can look back on an impressive career as a professional skipper.
He also became a commentator for the American sports channel ESPN in 1985 and "did more than most other sailors to help the sport lose its elitist reputation." Jobson presented more than 30 shows a year on average. In 1988, he won an Emmy Award for his reports from the Olympic Sailing Games in Seoul, South Korea.
The author of 13 books, he is also the editor of Sailing World and Cruising World magazines. Four years ago, he received the prestigious Nathanael G. Herreshoff Trophy from the American Sailing Federation.
Australian entrepreneur Alan Bond hijacked the America's Cup, the world's oldest sporting trophy, from the USA in 1983. It was his fourth challenge. "Most people would have given up the endeavour after three defeats at the latest," the commission praises him. His sporting behaviour is reminiscent of that of the legendary Sir Thomas Lipton and his "Shamrock" campaigns.
After winning the Cup with the Ben Lexcen-designed "Australia II" (one of her secrets was a wing keel), Bond said: "I believe that you only regret the things you haven't done". With his characteristic energy, Alan Bond ultimately achieved his goal.
The new members of the Hall of Fame selection committee bring with them a wealth of experience that almost deserves to be honoured. They include, among others: Elizabeth E. Meyer, Nathanael G. Herreshoff III, Bruce Kirby and Baron Bich.
The following have been inducted into the Hall of Fame so far:
Charles Francis Adams
James L. Ashbury
J. Burr Bartram
Charles Barr
Robert N. Bavier, Jr.
John Bertrand
Baron Marcel Bich
Sir Peter Blake
Malin Burnham
Dick Brown
Edward Burgess
W. Starling Burgess
James E. Buttersworth
William F. Carstens
Dennis Conner
Russell Coutts
Briggs S. Cunningham
William P. Ficker
Sir James Hardy
Sir Michael Fay
Nathanael G. Herreshoff
F.E. "Ted" Hood
Chandler Hovey
Sherman Hoyt
C. Oliver Iselin
Arthur Knapp, Jr.
William I. Koch
Sir Thomas J. Lipton
Harry "Buddy" Melges
Edward I. du Moulin
E.D. Morgan
Henry Sturgis Morgan
Emil "Bus" Mosbacher, Jr.
Frank J. Murdoch
Charles E. Nicholson
Sir Frank Packer
General Charles J. Paine
Victor A. Romagna
Morris Rosenfeld
Stanley Rosenfeld
Tom Schnackenberg
George L. Schuyler
Henry Sears
T.O.M. Sopwith
George Steers
John Cox Stevens
Olin J. Stephens, II
Roderick Stephens, Jr.
R.E. "Ted" Turner
Harold S. Vanderbilt
Gertrude Vanderbilt
George L. Watson
The Earl of Wilton
