Merrill Fay and Fays Boatyard honored by LWSA

LACONIA — Merrill Fay and Fays Boatyard were honored with the Atherton Award by the Lake Winnipesaukee Sailing Association at its annual meeting on Oct. 22, at the Laconia Country Club.

Since 1988, the award has honored the Lake Winnipesaukee sailor that best exemplifies the qualities of Ernie Atherton. For Ernie, sailing on our wondrous big lake had a special charm and instinctive fulfillment. Not long before he passed, Ernie and his wife completed a now infamous spinnaker run along the length of the lake to Wolfeboro.

From the first recipient, Terry Pratt, to “Parky” Howe, who remained an active sailor into his 90s, to Bob and Donna Garland, who have been dedicated contributors for the entirety of LWSA’s 34 year history, to Al Posnack, who has tirelessly led the expansion of the sailing school, to Tom Mullen, whose drive to purchase the lakeside sailing center brought the program to new heights, these and all the past recipients truly exemplify the qualities bound to the Atherton Award.

But no one, and specifically no organization, has done more to support the criteria recognized by this award than Merrill Fay and Fay’s Boat Yard.

LWSA has its roots in the Lake Winnipesaukee Yacht Racing Association, founded in 1988. Even before then, Fay’s Boat Yard welcomed sailors to their Smith Cove facility, provided sales and service. Fay’s became — and to this day remains— home port for so many sail boaters. The vibrancy of this sport on the big lake has endured and grown because of their service.

Additionally, Fay’s has been a keystone for the development of one-design fleets, including large fleets of J-22s, J-24s, and J-80s. Fay’s has hosted the annual J-Jamboree for each of its 34 years, in all cases providing launch and haul, space for social functions, and weekend service. This is an essential and invaluable part of what it means for us to be great regatta hosts and we could not do it without them.

Over the years, Fay’s Boat Yard has been the center of so many LWSA functions: the Michelob, the Labor Day Regatta, the Fay’s Boat Yard Cruiser’s Race — where the winner was gifted a free haul-out — to name a few. For many a year, the dry storage building at Fay’s got transformed into a party scene for an LWSA event.

Most importantly, for some 25 years Fay’s provided access to their property and use of one of their buildings as a home base and classroom for the association's sailing school. The school, now serving hundreds of kids each summer and planting the seeds of the lake’s future sailors, would not be where it is today without this generosity.

All this and more kindly given at no cost to the association's program. The LWSA, J80 Fleet 1, and sailors on the lake more broadly owe Fay’s boundless gratitude.

It is with such gratitude that the LWSA honored Merril Fay and Fay’s boat yard with the Atherton Award.

The LWSA annual meeting also honors the top sailors from our twelve boat fleet of J80s, one of the largest fleets of its kind on the east coast. The LWSA hosts weekly racing on Thursday evenings from May to September for this fleet, and the winningest boat from each season is dubbed “Boat of the Year.” The 2022 Boat of the Year was Kevin Hayes’ and Jeff Kirchhoff’s “More Gostosa,” skippered by Conor Hayes. Also celebrated was Jesse Thompson’s Tubby — Thompson placed 5th at the 2022 J80 World Championship Regatta in Newport, Rhode Island, this fall.