Pete Hill's Lifetime of Adventure and Rig Expertise Recognized with CCA's Prestigious Blue Water Medal

The Cruising Club of America’s annual anticipation of their distinguished Blue Water Medal announcement has a purpose and that is to genuinely reward maritime audacity and skill. British sailor Pete Hill, the award’s honored recipient for 2025, is someone who has turned seafaring into an art. In 1923, this medal first found hands of gallant wanderers of the sea. Since then, legendary sailors like Bernard Moitessier, Eric Tabarly, and Sir Francis Chichester have proudly owned it. Hill is the latest addition to that impressive list, applauded for his half-century devotion to sailing and exploring vast expanses of oceans.

Hill’s journey did not stop there; he then designed and built ‘Chin Moon’, a 38-foot junk-rigged catamaran. Steering this vessel, Hill sailed high latitudes for half a decade, traversing the symbol of sailing challenges - Cape Horn. In the following years, Hill converted a Freedom 33 to a junk rig, created cruising guides, embarked on more journeys, and even persevered through personal tragedies.

Despite losing his wife Carly to a tragic accident at sea in 2015, Hill found solace in the waves, undertaking a solitary voyage across the Indian Ocean. During the pandemic, he built ‘Kokachin’, another junk-rigged schooner, with Linda Crew-Gee, charting new paths from the Caribbean to Greenland.

In a twist of fate, Hill reacquired his earlier creation, China Moon, in Tasmania and spent four months refitting it despite encountering challenges that only the high seas could conjure. As of now, Hill is blissfully marking his miles on the South Pacific aboard China Moon, basking in the hard-earned glory of the Blue Water Medal.