The World Sailor of the Year is a celebration of a sailor’s spirit and hard work that goes into sailing their boats with a skill that is unparalleled over some of the roughest waters in the world. Rolex has associated itself with this event for a long time now as it truly endorses the human will and courage to fight the worst that once can possibly face in life. Rolex as a signature name in the field of watch making also involves itself with acts that reflect a commitment to excellence and a striving for the best that life has to offer. The Rolex World Sailor of the Year awards achievers who have very faithfully striven to create benchmarks when it comes to sailing and they have created this through a sheer grit and a lot of patient practice. Rolex recognizes equality when it comes together as an organization to celebrate the art and sport of sailing. Sailors who are part of the nominations are chosen because they are not only skilled in the sport but their achievements relate to all aspects of the sport.

Rolex sets dates within which the nominees present their skills in all sailing events dating from 1^st September 2008 to 31^st August 2009. This is the period when sailing is at its peak and fans get to witness some great sailing action live or on their television screens. Most sailors who are nominated this year have displayed a strength of character and purpose that has clearly made them an easy choice for nominations for this year’s events. An extremely egalitarian event, the Rolex World Sailor of the Year recognizes talent in both men and women sailors. There are four nominees in the women’s category this year and five in the men’s. Great Britain and France have swept a greater part of the nominations this year, a display of the fact that these countries are currently producing some of the best talents in the field of sailing.

Blanca Manchon from Spain has beaten her competitors to a podium finish very consistently this year and has also won most of the events that she has participated in. She is also a claimant to the Absolute Winner trophy for the year. Anna Tunnicliffe is lending strong competition to the other nominees, coming with a background that declares her as the world class ambassador for sailing. Winning at the ISAF Nations Cup Regional Final and also grabbing a gold medal at the Laser Radial North Americans and silver at the Laser Midwinters’ east. Hillary Lister and Sam Davies are the other two nominees who are posing some real challenge to the competition, each coming with their years of experience in the sailing field and with a lot of accolades won through hard work behind them.

The male nominees this year are as illustrious. Pascal Bidegorry who has set a new benchmark and a new transatlantic record with his feat on the waters. Michel Desjoyeaux his contemporary from France has won the Vendee Globe twice. Fondly called Le Professeur the sailor looks at this award as a rewarding conclusion to his prowl for records and achievements in the world of sailing. The other nominees in the men’s category are no mean achievers, and include some of the best names in the field of sailing, from Paul Goodison, Torben Grael to Nathan Outteridge, each bringing with them a thousand reasons why they deserve to win the award.

Tags: Absolute Winner., Anna Tunnicliffe, Blanca Manchon, Le Professeur, Michel Desjoyeaux, Nathan Outteridge, Pascal Bidegorry, Paul Goodison, rolex, Rolex Sailor of the Year, Torben Grael, Vendee Globe.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, September 30th, 2009 at 8:42 am and is filed under Rolex Culture, Rolex Events. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.