#Award - Martin Black, author of Limerick publisher Peggy Bawn Press's GL Watson – The Art and Science of Yacht Design, was presented with the John Leather Award for Special Achievement at the recent Classic Boat Awards 2014 event in Mayfair, London.

It marks the first time this prestigious award has been presented for something not directly related to hands-on traditional boat work.

And it's a fitting tribute to Black for his meticulously researched book, reviewed here by WM Nixon.

The publication was crafted with care over many years and brought to the bookshelf by a team gathered by Peggy Bawn Press owner Hal Sisk, not to mention beautifully presented by Gary Mac Mahon’s Limerick-based Copper Reed Studio.

This award is also a fitting tribute to John Leather – naval architect, author and prolific contributor to Classic Boat from its inception until his death in 2006.

As John’s widow, Doris, said in a moving tribute by Classic Boat editor Dan Houston: “Books were John’s passion... I think every time I went out another boxload would arrive! But he’d say: ‘I don’t smoke, I don’t drink, books are my vice!’”