Tillman honored by ILCA Hall of Fame

The ILCA (International Laser Class Association) Hall of Fame, which honors individuals who, over the course of their sailing careers, made an outstanding impact on the Laser Class and the sport of sailboat racing, has confirmed Dick Tillman (USA) as its latest inductee.

Tillman won the very first major Laser regatta: the 1971 North American Championship (87 boat fleet with many champion sailors competing). He then went on to win the next two Laser North American titles as well.

A former US Air Force Major from Indiana, USA, he was a member of the U.S. Sailing Team at the 1976 Olympics as an alternate and was named US Sailor of the Year in 1965. Tillman was National Intercollegiate Sailing Champion with the U.S. Naval Academy in 1957. He holds national, North American and world titles in the Snipe, Finn, Laser and Sunfish classes, won a bronze medal at the 1959 Pan American Games in the Snipe, and was Great Grand Master Laser Radial World Champion in 2002.

Tillman has been a significant volunteer contributor to the sport of sailing, having been a director of the U.S. Sailing Association for three years, chair of National Single-handed Championship Committee for seven years, commodore of the Snipe Class International Racing Association, sailing representative to USOC Athletes Advisory Council, Executive Director of the International J/24 Class Association, president of the US Windsurfing Association, and president of the International Sunfish Class Association.

Tillman wrote Laser Sailing for the 1990s (published in 1991) and also The Complete Book of Laser Sailing (first published in 2005), both widely regarded as the “Bible” of how to rig, sail and race a Laser. He is known for being a true gentlemen on and off the water and for always being available to share his sailing knowledge.