Anna Tunnicliffe Wins Rolex U.S. Women’s Sailor Of The Year Award—Again!
SAILING
On the heels of winning the Rolex World Sailor of the Year award just last month, Anna Tunnicliffe took her second Rolex US Sailor of the Year award in a row. She was nominated to the award’s shortlist for the fifth consecutive year, and is the first woman in 27 years to accomplish the feat of back-to-back wins. She’s also accumulating quite an impressive collection of personalized Rolex Timepieces!
Americans Bora Gulari and Anna Tunnicliffe were named US Sailing’s 2009 Rolex Yachtsman and Yachtswoman of the Year. A shortlist of ten male and five female sailors—determined from nominations submitted by members of US Sailing—was evaluated by a panel of sailing journalists who selected these two sailors for the noteworthy distinction. Established in 1961 by US Sailing and sponsored by Rolex Watch U.S.A. since 1980, the Rolex Yachtsman and Yachtswoman of the Year awards recognize the outstanding on-the-water competitive achievement of an individual man and woman in the calendar year just concluded.
“I’m so happy I can do this [sail] for a living,” added Tunnicliffe. “I have more goals to reach in my sailing career, and starting this year [2010] with this award is amazing.”
Since winning the Laser Radial Olympic Gold Medal at the 2008 Games in China, Tunnicliffe has proven her talent and versatility by excelling not only in the singlehanded dinghy but also in skippering several different one-design boats in both fleet and match racing. She dominated the Laser Radial fleet during the 2009 ISAF Sailing World Cup series by winning gold at US SAILING’s Rolex Miami OCR and Semaine Olympique Francaise in France, and bronze at Kieler Woche in Germany. She also won the Laser Radial Women’s North American Championship in Florida and finished third at the Laser Radial World Championship in Japan.
Tunnicliffe’s success on the 2009 match racing circuit was also notable. She won the Detroit Cup in Ultimate 20s and was second at U.S. Women’s Match Racing Championship in St. Thomas sailed in IC 24s. Her medal haul also included bronze collected at the ISAF Nations Cup Grand Final in Brazil sailed in J/24s, and at Skandia Sail for Gold in England, sailing the Elliott 6 Metre, the equipment chosen for the debut of the new women’s match racing event at the 2012 Olympic Regatta.
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