Steve Piché perpetual trophy presented @ F18 North American Championship

[Jim Casto]

Several years ago we were all shocked by Steve Piche's sudden passing,  but below is an example of one effort to remember Steve in a positive way within the competitive sailing circles.  (You will soon start hearing about another effort).

Juke Ball, Steve's long time crew, was asked by F-18 America to make a perpetual trophy in honor of Steve Piché,  Knowing that Steve loved to show off his cowboy boots everywhere, the trophy is a boot.  It is called the "Perseverance award", because as we know, Steve persevered - he was the only one to finish every leg of every GT300, a race he invented & built himself.  He would race in conditions that would keep other skippers on shore, he was never afraid to go for it.  Steve attended many Nationals, and World championship races, and while he was not usually on the top landing of the trophy podium at those events, everyone at those events knew him, and heard about the "Great Texas" race.  Below the first image is a writeup of this year's recipient - and its apropos he is in a boot also - but a different kind of boot!

The Steve Piche trophy was presented by Steve's long time F18 crew Juke Ball, at 2022 F-18 Worlds awards ceremony on Sunday, October 16th, as a perpetual North Americas Nationals trophy.

Brett Burvill was the first recipient of the trophy.

Brett came to 2022 Worlds with a broken ankle and crutches.  Understandably one would imaging he would need the most help and Brett put himself in the position of being helpful. He raced with his broken ankle.  That is tough.  Just doing the race was enough for the trophy.  What set Brett apart is he still had the sense of community to help a competitor fix a mast that had been deemed unfixable.  That is the sportsmanship spirit we all should aspire to.  Brett is such a persevering competitor that to race a Worlds in Sarasota in 2018, he drove his boat the width of Australia, broke it down, shipped it to LA, then drove it across America to Sarasota to race.  That is a love of the sport, of our sport.

[Mike Rohrer]

Jim,

Good write up.  Juke had shared with me about this trophy and I thought it was very "fitting" and glad to see something like this.  What you said was correct.  Steve never gave up even when his boat did.  He was always pushing to the limit and that was what lifted him to become one of the best sailors around.  Steve put his heart and soul into the GT300 event.  And he recruited sailors to come out and experience the race and be part of the race for 17 years.  For that and his friendship I will always be thankful.

Mike Rohrer    

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[Jim Casto]

You should have written it.

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