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Ensign Fleet 63 - BBYRA Season Championship

William Meredith Wood Memorial Trophy

Awarded to the BBYRA Season Champion. William M. Wood and his crew and wife Peggy Keyser started winning trophies on Barnegat Bay in the 1910’s. Bill won BBYRA Championships in his 18^ft. Catboat, SUDS, in 1927 and his Barnegat 17, Grandmother Honey, in 1967. In the 1950’s he helped develop the current BBYRA Barrel Courses. In 1972 he bought Pearson Ensign #176, Demitasse, and in 1973 formed Ensign Fleet 63. Over the next twelve years he helped the fleet grow to 23 racing boats. Bill taught 6 grandchildren to sail, race, crab, and over-night cruise on the Demitasse. Bill’s daughter, Leigh F.W. Murphey, renamed Ensign 176 the Chowder. These days the Chowder is actively raced by Bill Wood’s grandson Bill Murphey with crew great-granddaughter Erin Murphey.

This trophy was first awarded in 2012