Kaenon Polarized

The Portland National Sailing Academy in Weymouth, England is the future venue of the 2012 Olympics. The recent ISAF Sailing World Cup threw a bit of everything at the competitors this week but saved the best for last with a medal race day that was the ultimate in British summer conditions; wind, rain, calms and even a little sunshine right at the end. The huge entry of 975 sailors from 57 nations spread across 712 boats in 13 classes will all go home having learned if nothing else, to expect the unexpected in August 2012.

Kaenon Polarized sunglasses were prevalent in this invitation-only Pre-Olympic Regatta that also served as the final ISAF World Cup event of the year.

Men’s 470: Silver – Mat Belcher and Malcolm Page, AUS, 35 – Hard Kore Black G12; Kore G12, C28

Women’s 470: Bronze – Erin Maxwell and Isabelle Kinsolving, USA, 91 – Kore G12; Hard Kore Y35, Gauge Abalone G12

Anna Tunnicliffe, driving and middle hand, Molly Vandemoer, both wearing Soft Kore Metallic Black C12, took Bronze

Genny Tulloch in Georgia Tobacco Denim C12, crewed for Sally Barkow, who was wearing Hard Kore Black G12.

Women’s Laser Radial: Kiwi Bronze medalist Sara Winther leading at the top mark, wearing Hard Kore Tobacco C12

During the rainy, foggy, Medal race, Malcolm with Kore C28

Finn Class: Kiwi Dan Slater finished 6th, wearing Hard Kore. Very much a top, World competitor.

Kiwis Blair Tuke (forward) and Peter Burling, both wearing Kore. These up and comer’s finished 8th.

Women’s 470: Vice World Champions Olivia Powrie (on the wire) and Jo Aleh, both wearing Kore. Their 8th place finish was likely a disappointment after nearly winning the World Championship last month.

Star Class: Former Olympian Andrew Campbell and Brad Nichol both wearing Hard Kore Matte Black G12, finished 6th.

Kaenon Polarized takes Gold in Men’s and Silver in Women’s divisions of this Olympic Sailing class!

As reported by Scuttlebutt.com:

The Hague, Netherlands — Mother nature played ball for the last day of the Delta Lloyd 470 World Championships taking place in The Hague, with brilliant sunshine and a 12 knot southwesterly breeze for the Men’s and Women’s medal races, held directly off the beach at the Hague.

In the Men’s race Australians Matt Belcher, wearing Hard Kore Black G12 and Malcolm Page, wearing Kore Black G12 M had secured gold through their 20 point lead yesterday to claim the Men’s World Championship title. ‘This is my fifth World Championship win and every one of them has been hard,” commented Page.

The class act of this regatta has been the newly crowned Australian World Champions, Beijing Gold medalist Malcolm Page and his new helm Matt Belcher. ‘They are really good, especially when it is windy,” said Charbonnier. ‘We have a lot of work to do if we want to compete with them.”

Mal (left) wearing Kore M G12 and helmsman Mat wearing Hard Kore Black G12 after securing Gold.

Their coach, the very legendary Victor Kavalenko wearing Hard Kore Black G12 (he’s not only won Olympic Gold himself back in the old days of Russia, he’s shaped and coached 15 world champions in this class.

While Belcher and Page were secure in first place going into today’s medal race, the case was the opposite in the Women’s medal race where the powerful Dutch defending World Champions, Lisa Westerhof and Lobke Berkhout secured their win only after beating New Zealand’s Jo Aleh, wearing Kore Black S C12 and Olivia Powrie in Kore Black S C12, who held a slender point advantage going in the medal race, ultimately taking the Silver Medal.

The World Match Racing Tour –– Portimao, Portugal

Portimão, Portugal – June 27th, 2010 – Finals day for Stage 4 of the ISAF World Match Racing Tour produced an all-Australian final with Kaenon’s Torvar Mirsky (AUS) Mirsky Racing Team yet again taking on the icon of match racing, Peter Gilmour (AUS) YANMAR Racing. The ‘Perth Prodigy’, 24 year old Mirsky, wearing Klay Black G12, did not defend his Portugal Match Cup title from last year as the 50 years young Master Gilmour taught his Apprentice a few new lessons and claimed the spotlight as 2010 Portimão Portugal Match Cup Champion. Mirsky and his team won the Round Robin Series, and swept through the knock-out rounds of quarterfinals and semi finals to go against his longtime mentor and fellow Perth, Australian for an all-Australian Final. In the Teacher vs. Student battle, this time the teacher came out on top, but Mirsky was relaxed and philosophical at the awards ceremony; “They showed us how to do it. We learned a lot about our starts today and my team are all stoked, this is our best result so far on the Tour this year.”

After finishing second last year in the overall point standings, MIrsky and team are third overall with four of the ten-event 2010 season completed.

The largest of the spring European Olympic Class World Cups concluded with some good Kaenon results last week in Kiel, Germany.

Continuing to dominate the Men’s 470 were the Australian Gold Medal duo of Mat Belcher in Hard Kore Black G12 and Malcolm Page in Kore Black G12.

Spanish Bronze medalist Rafa Trujillo, repeated his Bronze medal podium spot placement, falling to third after the final race. Rafa sails in Kore G12.

Current Women’s Rolex World Sailor of the Year, Anna Tunnicliffe, sailing in Soft Kore Black G12, continues her transition into the new Women’s Match Race division from the single-handed Laser Radial where she won all of her acclaim the past five years with an impressive third place finish. Anna beat fellow American and Kaenon sailor Genny Tulloch (Georgia Tobacco Denim C12) in the Petit-Finals for the Bronze Medal.

Mark Mendelblatt, wearing Hard Kore Tobacco G12 and Magnus Liljedahl in Kore Black G12 also took Bronze in the Star Class. French windsurfer Julien Bontemps in Hard Kore won the Men’s RSX Class.

Bryony Shaw wearing Soft Kore Black C28.

Salior Genny Tulloch does a great job of keeping us up-to-date with her events and giving the inside scoop on what goes on during the races. Here is her personal recap of Kiel week:

“Teammate Alice Manard and I were fortunate to have Jenn Chamberlin as our new middle, and after a great week of training at the Chicago Match Race Center and some travel difficulties on Alice’s end, we setup at the USTTAG Base in Germany for the 6th event of the 2010 World Cup. Twenty-four teams qualified for the event, and when we won our initial grouping we advanced through to an automatic spot in the quarterfinals, and Gold Round Robin Racing. The week was light air, but the match racers completed almost all of our racing while the other fleets were mostly postponed. We enjoyed the benefits of being close to land and on short courses; even if it made for some very shifty races, some big chop as the other fleets towed in and out, and some late nights.

“In the end we were seeded against #1 World Ranked British team of Lucy Macgregor for the quarterfinals, and were initially down 1-2, sailing late into the night on Tuesday. With all the races needing to be done before 3 pm the next day, the Race Committee had us out early, and we won our two do-or-die races against Lucy to advance to the Semifinals against Claire Leroy. The conditions had us close to the shore with a very shifty and puffy offshore breeze, and it was often who won the start and got to the first shift would be able to control the race. We were happy to have done that to Lucy’s team, but then unfortunately lost the next 2 races to Claire off the line. The third race we led around the course but she got some better shifts on the final upwind, was close on our tail at the weather mark and was able to gybe inside at the mark and pass us on the downwind, sending us to the petit finals, against our own American teammates, Team Tunnicliffe.

“The duke-out for bronze was interesting, with Anna’s team winning the first race but as the clock ticked down there would only be time for one last race, so whoever won the final race would win the bronze. We saw pressure coming down on the left, won the pin and tacked on the left shift, leading them by three boatlenghths or more. But as we approached the weather mark the race committee abandoned the race due to the windshift, and rushed us back to restart. Unfortunately the next race went to their team, with us getting a penalty right at the start for tacking too close with them at our stern, so we ended up fourth for the event.

“For a first time sailing with a new teammate we were pleased to have finished fourth, having won our initial round over Claire Leroy, and defeated Lucy Macgregor in the quarterfinals. We left some to be desired in the final races, but very much know what we can continue to improve upon.”

A team led by female sailors has won the Historical 72nd “Bol d’Or Mirabaud Regatta for the first time. Europe’s largest sailing event, a race from Geneva to the other end of Lake Geneva and back, was won by Ladycat, which crossed the finish line at 03:00 Sunday, with Dona Bertarelli (Klay, Matte Black, C12 lens) as skipper and helmswoman and trimmer Emmanuelle Rol.

After seventeen hours of sailing, Ladycat won one of the most prestigious and most difficult races in Europe in front of an international array of ocean champions. The team, mostly women, demonstrated an impressive level of confidence and tenacity, managing to lead the entire race along with two smaller M2 catamarans, Safram and Tilt. On the finishing line, the pink multihull arrived alone with an almost two hours lead over the next boat, Banque Populaire, helmed by the ocean skipper and record-holder Pascal Bidégorry.

Ladycat was launched in 2007 and was used to support the World Heart Federation’s international campaign, Go Red for Women campaign to promote awareness of cardiovascular disease in women. In April, Ladycat announced its new partnership with Ma Vie Ton Sang, the Vaud regional blood transfusion service in Epalinges, to draw attention to the need for blood donors and the work of the group.

Bertarelli, sister of Ernesto Bertarelli of Alinghi fame, races Ladycat during the Lake Geneva season with an international team of women sailors. Rol is a materials sciences student.

Annapolis, Maryland — Kaenon Polarized took 3 of the top 4 spots at the 20th annual Women’s Match Racing Championship. Wearing Georgia Black G12, Genny Tulloch was one victory short of her first Grade 1 match race championship, eventually losing the best-of-5 race finale for a well-earned 2nd place overall. Behind her and winning the Petite Final for 3rd overall, was Rolex World Sailor of the Year Anna Tunnicliffe wearing Soft Kore Metallic Black G12. Tunnicliffe beat fellow Kaenon sailor Sally Barkow in Hard Kore, who finished 4th.

Genny Tulluch (above), wearing Georgia Tobacco Denim C12, driving in rear (white visor) and her second place team all in Kaenon Polarized, Georgia, Hard Kore and Kore.

3rd place Anna Tunnicliffe in Soft Kore Metallic Black G12 (above), below (driving), with Molly Van der Meer, also in Soft Kore Black Metallic G12, and Kore on her other crew.

Two of the youngest kids on the Olympic circuit today are New Zealanders Peter Burling and Blair Tuke. Kaenon has been supporting Peter since he was 14 as one of the top youths coming up through the ranks.

Graduating to the fast and technical Olympic 49er for London 2012 after his Beijing ‘08 experience, Peter has a new teammate and wrote a short blog for a top Kiwi sailing site last week after their silver medal performance in Holland. At 17, traveling the world and learning not only how to be a great athlete, but a worldly young man, Burling is the future of the sport!

The boys on a tear, logoed up in frigid waters – Kore on – always, for Peter.

Loaded, logoed and ready for the trip to the UK – next stop on the Euro Olympic Tour. How we roll!

A global contingent of Kaenon’s Olympic sailors walked away with Silver medals and a Bronze at the third European Olympic Spring Regatta of the season. Sailed in cold and stormy Holland waters, the Delta Lloyd regatta dished out mostly blustery strong breezes to the former Olympians and all aspiring London 2012 campaigners, after windless Palma, Spain and Hyeres, France. Led by Olympic Gold Medalist Malcolm Page (Kore), and new teammate Mat Belcher (Hard Kore), the Men’s 470 duo from Australia took home Silver, along with Spanish Olympian Rafael Trujillo (Kore), in the manly Finn class.

The youngest sailing competitor at the Beijing Olympics, Peter Burling, who was 16 when he competed for New Zealand, has switched classes, has a new teammate and is fully committed to his goal of London 2012. Burling, now 17, wearing Hard Kore, along with crew Blair Tuke (Hard Kore), took Silver in the Open 49er skiff.

Reigning Beijing Bronze medalist and decorated women’s windsurfer, Bryony Shaw – sailing in the new Soft Kore, again took Bronze as the Brit prepares for her hometown Olympics and a podium repeat.

US SAILING was fortunate to catch up with BMW ORACLE Racing Team Tactician John Kostecki, wearing Hard Kore C28 while his team competes at the RC 44 Austria Cup. The two-time winner of US SAILING’s Rolex Yachtsman of the Year Award (2002, 1988) has a diverse and unique racing resume that includes a silver medal at the 1988 Olympic Games in the Soling class, a win at the 2001-02 Volvo Ocean Race as the skipper for Illbruck Challenge, and most recently Kostecki served as the tactician for the America’s Cup winning BMW ORACLE Racing Team.

US SAILING: You’ve won the America’s Cup, a Volvo Ocean Race, and a silver medal in the Olympics… What is your favorite sailing achievement and why?
JOHN KOSTECKI: Each of those achievements were very important to me at the time. They’re all very hard to do and take a lot of time, energy and focus. I still enjoy all types of racing in our sport and I’ve been around for a while now, so that means you start to have achievements across the sport. It’s satisfying now to have won the America’s Cup, won the Volvo Ocean Race and to have an Olympic medal. As far as we know, not too many people have done that. So certainly, that’s a point of pride. But for me, sailing different classes and different types of events is fun and keeps it exciting.

US SAILING: What did it mean to you as one of the few Americans competing for the America’s Cup?
JOHN KOSTECKI: It’s been a goal of mine for a while, so it’s very satisfying to achieve that goal and bring the cup back to the U.S. I know Larry Ellison has been very keen to win it and bring the America’s Cup back to the U.S., so it is very satisfying.

US SAILING: How important was it for the U.S. to re-claim the America’s Cup? What does it mean for sailing in the U.S.?
JOHN KOSTECKI: Hopefully it will mean a lot. I know it is part of Larry’s (Ellison) vision to elevate the profile of the sport and use this as a chance to educate people who don’t know too much about our sport. If it’s done the right way….Read the entire interview.

The annual kick-off to the Spring European World Cup circuit for all teams pining for the Olympics started on the island of Palma in Spain last week. As usual, a lot of Kaenon sunglasses were worn by many of the best sailors.

Australian defending Olympic Gold Medalist Malcolm Page (front) wearing Kore, with new partner Matt Belcher in Hard Kore G12, driving, in the two-man 470 class.

One of Spain’s top Olympic sailors, Rafa Trujillo in the one-man Finn Class, wearing Kore C12.

Brad Funk, sailing in Arlo Tortoise G12, podiumed in third place in the hottest new development class in the world, the foiling Moth. Husband of the reigning Rolex World and US Female Sailor of the Year, Anna Tunnicliffe, Brad is an accomplished and well-known single-handed sailor who was also the top American at this championship. Fellow Kaenon sailor Dalton Bergan from Washington State, placed fifth, wearing Klay Black G12.

Anna Tunnicliffe was presented with her second Rolex Yachtswoman of the Year Award (a Rolex timepiece) in New York City last weekend at the New York Yacht Club. She also received the title last month–and another Rolex watch!–for being named the Rolex Female World Sailor of the Year.

Congrats Anna!

SAILING – VALENCIA, SPAIN

Congratulations to BMW Oracle Racing – decked out in Kaenon Polarized Sunglasses, the sports performance eyewear of choice, for winning the most technologically advanced America’s Cup Race in history! Russell Coutts (Lewi G12), John Kostecki (Hard Kore C28), Ross Halcrow (Hard Kore C28), Dirk DeRidder (Kore G12), Joey Newton (Hard Kore G12), Thierry Fouchier (Hard Kore G12) and the man who talked Coutts into designing and making the Wing – Pete Melvin (Jetty G12)!

The BMW Oracle Racing Crew

The Winged Trimaran in Action

(L) CEO and Skipper Russell Coutts wearing Lewi Black Pearl G12 (R) Larry Ellison

Trimmer, Ross Halcrow in Hard Kore C28

John Kostecki in Celebration Mode

John Kostecki of BMW Oracle Racing, made the call of the match – one that proved to be the defining moment in Race 2 of the 33rd America’s Cup. The talented and decorated tactician and longtime wearer of Kaenon’s patented SR-91® polarized sunglasses, Kostecki made a tactical decision that put America’s BMW Oracle Racing in position to take the lead and go on to ultimately win Race 2 and the America’s Cup. Several of USA 17’s key players, and those on the losing Defender, relied on Kaenon Polarized to read the fickle breeze in Valencia.

After winning the first race in the best-of-3 match, which took place on Friday, February 12th, BMW Oracle Racing only needed one more win to bring the iconic trophy back to America. Wearing Hard Kore, C28 lenses, Kostecki relied on the razor-sharp clarity of his SR-91 polarized lenses – and trusted what he saw – more breeze and a slight shift to the left towards the end of the first leg of Race 2. Confirming what he was reading with the computer data that also indicated a shift in his boat’s favor, he called the tack that placed BMW Oracle’s USA 17 ahead of Alinghi 5, to take the lead at the top mark. That call, was the defining moment that made the race one of pure speed from there on out. BMW Oracle’s Winged trimaran had more speed – and showed that America’s Cup 33, a unique Deed of Gift match – was purely about technical innovation. Kostecki’s most important tool as the winning tactician? Kaenon Polarized! As the most technically advanced sailing sunglasses to be invented, Kaenon’s SR-91 polarized lenses were the choice of tacticians on both teams, all trimmers and key personnel!

SAILING – VALENCIA, SPAIN

So close, but not just yet… The anticipation for the 33rd America’s Cup continues to build, but the breezes off Valencia, Spain refused to cooperate to allow the scheduled first showdown between the two giant multihulls–Swiss defender Alinghi 5 and Challenger BMW Oracle–to take place today.

Race 1 is now re-scheduled to take place on Wednesday, February 10th with the time gun due at 1000hrs.

The competitors fine-tuned their boats during yesterday’s windless and final practice. Check back for updates and recaps as these two revolutionary crafts make history this week!

On team BMW Oracle; Russell Coutts, John Kostecki, Dirk DeRidder, Ross Halcrow and Joey Newton will be wearing their trusted Kaenon Polarized Sunglasses. On team Alinghi; Brad Butterworth, Simon Daubney and Warwick Fluerry also demand the utmost performance out of their eyewear.

BMW Oracle

Alinghi 5

America’s Cup Online Viewing Resources:
The event website for the 33rd America’s Cup will provide live online
coverage with Peter Montgomery, Andy Green, and Cam Lewis commentating for
the official Host Broadcaster; http://www.americascup.com

ESPN360.com (USA only) will carry the live coverage from the Host
Broadcaster with Gary Jobson and Randy Smyth commentating. All races will
also be available for replay; http://www.ESPN360.com

Boatson.tv has secured the Host Broadcaster live pictures from the course in
Valencia and other general Americas Cup program which can be watched live
on their special Americas Cup TV video players; http://www.boatson.tv

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.

SURF

Kaenon Polarized and the crew from Transworld Surf took a special excursion to a secret spot off the West Coast to find an undisclosed set of breaks.

“With a pending swell and offshore winds in the forecast, we loaded up and headed south. We made it to the break at night and dropped the hook in about 30 feet of water. The boys were crying about sharks and having to paddle to the peak. I kept laughing at them and told them to man up.  But the laugh was on me by the end of the trip as a seal crawled up the beach with a huge bite mark out of its tail, ” said Wyms.

“After that, I started anchoring the boat a lot closer to the break from then on out.”

The next morning we woke up to perfect, head-high peeling rights.

Our hunter and gatherer Justin, nailed dinner for one night.

This is what the insides of a shipwreck look like. We worried that we were going to find a body; luckily the owner must have gotten off before the waves caught his boat.

Charlie at the end of the wave and day.

The only local at this break.

Empty waves, nothing better.

The boys, from left to right: Scott in Lewi Black G12, Justin in Calais Matte Black G12, Matt in Calais Matte Black G12 and Charlie in Burny Black C12.

SAILING – NICE COTE D’AZUR

Nostalgia, glory, passion and royalty all played out as both Louis Vuitton and Italia’s Azzurra team had hoped—as the resurrected and recently-assembled Italians beat favored Team New Zealand 2-0 for the Louis Vuitton Trophy.

Held on the French Riviera in cool, mostly windless conditions, skipper Francesco Bruni wearing Rhino Tobacco G12, stunned everyone with the win, setting off a celebration befitting of the host French Riviera resort town of Nice, the assembled international royalty, aside the passionate Italian victors and their fans.

Kaenon was present on most of the teams, with winning skipper Francesco Bruni (Rhino Tobacco G12) leading the way, runner-up tactician Ray Davies on Team New Zealand (Kore), and 4th place finisher from the UK, Team Origin, supported by helmsman Ben Ainslie (Rhino) and tactician Iain Percy (Baton).

Azzurra, from the Yacht Club Costa Smeralda, made its international sailing debut at the 1983 Louis Vuitton Cup but has been in hiatus since the 1987 event off Western Australia.

The team was re-launched last month and today Azzurra won the first race by 25 seconds and the second by 17 for a well-deserved championship.

SAILING
Sailing in St. Thomas in Beacon Tortoise C12 and fresh from Korea where she accepted her Rolex World Sailor of the Year award, Anna Tunnicliffe dominated the first three days of the Women’s Match Racing Championship racking up twenty wins to only one loss.  She met fellow Kaenon sailor Genny Tulluch, wearing Georgia Black G12, in the finals – where she was upset by Tulloch who capped off her inaugural Olympic campaign season as the US Match Racing Champion.

The win for Tulloch is especially sweet after losing to Tunnicliffe in the finals of last year’s USWMRC. “It feels great to win this championship,” Tulloch says. “We enjoy racing in St. Thomas. The conditions are great.”  Shifty conditions and a breeze barely reaching six knots set the scene for the final two matches of the semifinals and, what turned into a four-race Final Match.

The finals were now set up between the Disney Documentary film star Genny Tulluch vs. Tunnicliffe, the 2008 Olympic Gold Medalist in the Laser Radial and newly named World Sailor of the Year, who had gone 3-0 against Team Tulloch in their first three round robin matches. But it was Tulloch who came out of the blocks to win the first and third match for a 2-1 edge in the  best of five finals.  The fourth race turned into an epic battle with the lead changing several times on the final run, before Tunnicliffe fouled Tulluch only a few boat lengths before the finish, securing the victory for Genny Tulloch and her crew.

SAILING – BUSAN, KOREA

This week in Busan, Korea, the venue of The International Sailing Federation (ISAF) Annual Conference, US Sailing Team member Anna Tunnicliffe (Plantation, Fla.) was named the recipient of the 2009 ISAF Rolex World Sailor of the Year Award, the most prestigious individual recognition in the sport of sailing.

Tunnicliffe was chosen based on her outstanding achievement in a variety of boats and multiple disciplines during the qualifying period of September 1, 2008 to August 31, 2009.

“I’m honored to win such a huge award,” said Tunnicliffe after the awards ceremony in Korea. “I’m honored to now be on the list with all the amazing sailors who won the award before me. It’s a great way to top off a fantastic year, and I’m very excited!”

At the 2009 ISAF Rolex World Sailor of the Year Awards dinner, the HRH Crown Prince Frederik of Denmark and Rolex’s Lionel Church presented the male and female winners with a marble and silver trophy. The male recipient of the award is Brazil’s Torben Grael, the winning skipper of the 2009 Volvo Ocean Race.

“Anna’s record on the water over the last year speaks for itself, and this award is just the latest proof of her talent, motivation and dedication,” said Olympic Sailing Committee Chairman Dean Brenner (Wallingford, Conn). “Everyone at US Sailing is proud of Anna.”

The 2008 Awards were presented to four-time Olympic medal winners Ben Ainslie (GBR) and Alessandra Sensini (ITA), also Kaenon Polarized long-time sponsored sailors.

Anna Tunnicliffe and Torben Grael, the 2009 ISAF Rolex World Sailor of the Year

Anna Tunnicliffe, aft and standing in Georgia Tobacco C12 at the 2009 Skandia Sail for Gold Regatta in Weymouth and Portland, UK.

Read the entire storyhere.

SAILING
BMW Oracle racing lost their 200-foot tall rig (mast and sails) on the water last week. While out training off the coast of San Diego / Mexico in moderate, nice conditions, a hardware failure occurred and an ensuing “gravity storm” hit – everything came crashing down. While they admitted it was very scary, luckily, nobody was injured.

See the sequence of events below – Sailing last week, next day rig comes crashing down and the carnage being picked up and towed back to shore, and the new Hard Wing that will get stepped and unveiled today.

BEFORE…

then, 24 hours later….

The team says it’s really not that big of a setback as they were testing that new, very large / tall mast – one of 3 so far. They had another new test coming this week – a radical “hard-wing.” Imagine a big 747 airplane wing planted on the boat as the new power train (replacing conventional mast and sails) – but it’s literally, even bigger than a 747 jet wing!

And…in final stages of building in their secret work shed, the biggest Hard Wing ever built…to be stepped and mounted for the first time this week.

SAILING – ANNAPOLIS, MD
Sheehy Lexus of Annapolis 2009 Melges 24 World Championships

In congratulating the guys on their win, “It was an incredible week! Richard was awesome, had to be the yellow lenses!” said Chris Larson. Richard agreed, “I owe it all to my yellow lenses!!!!!! Seriously in that overcast monochrome soup we sailed in they were perfect,” said Richard Clarke in his Hard Kore Tobacco Y35 Sunglasses.

Chris Larson, wearing Kaenon sunglasses in Hard Kore C12, was at the helm of ‘West Marine Rigging/New England Ropes’ sponsored team, who had led the week-long regatta on-and-off for much of the event, took a seventeen point lead into the final day and looked odds-on to take the title. However, with the potential for three races to be sailed on the final day, Larson was always potentially vulnerable to attack from second placed Gabrio Zandona at the helm of the Italian entry ‘Joe Fly’. The fifty-one international teams, who had traveled from across North America and Europe to compete in the 2009 Melges 24 World Championships, finally got the welcome opportunity to race in double-digit breezes on the final day of the regatta on Halloween. Despite the Championship racecourse being shrouded in appropriately Halloween style mist for most of the day, the Race Committee successfully banged off two four-leg races in winds which peaked at around fourteen knots.

Larson took second in the first race of the day – combined with disqualifications of his closest competitors – then found himself in the enviable position of sealing the World Championship Title without having to compete in the second and final race of the day. Making the world title even sweeter for Larson – a long time wearer of Kaenon Polarized Sunglasses – was that he won on his home waters in Annapolis, MD. Rounding out the all-Kaenon sporting crew were: Mike Wolfs wearing UPD, Curtis Florence in Kore and tactician Richard Clarke wearing Hard Kore. Kaenon Polarized was clearly present on many of the top teams, with long-time Kaenon wearers Brian Porter (Hard Kore) finishing 7th and Terry Hutchinson (Kore) in 9th.

In 2009 the Russian’s, Team SYNERGY” adopted the Quantum sail package. The results spoke for themselves. Skipper Cameron Dunn wearing Hard Kore shares his thoughts on another successful regatta following Cartagena victory.

SAILING – ROCHESTER, NY

Kaenon’s Anna Tunnicliffe, wearing Beacon Tortoise G12, and her team of Molly O’Bryan Vandemoer, Liz Bower and Debbie Capozzi have won US Sailing’s 2009 Rolex International Women’s Keelboat Championship. Racing took place at the Rochester Yacht Club in upstate New York October 7-10, 2009. At the gala Rolex Awards ceremony held this evening at the RYC, Tunnicliffe and her team were awarded US Sailings’s perpetual Bengt Julin Trophy and a Rolex Oyster Perpetual Stainless Steel & Gold Datejust presented by Jaimie Carlsen of Rolex Watch U.S.A.

The team also won the Kaenon Polarized Boat of the Day award, winning two of the 3 official race days, presented with one of Kaenon’s female-specific sunglass models for each of their daily wins. “My team did a great job in putting us in the right position, and staying alert no matter what our situation,” Tunnicliffe said. “I’m excited to sail with them again in two weeks in St. Petersburg, FL, for the Osprey Cup, a Grade 1 Women’s Match Race event.”

‘We’re very excited,’ said Tunnicliffe, Olympic Gold Medalist and a member of the US Sailing Team AlphaGraphics, moments after returning the dock. ‘We wanted to win this event for a while and finally we’ve done it. We’re super psyched!’ Both Vandemoer and Capozzi are also members of the US Sailing Team AlphaGraphics.
Her team’s five-race score line was 3-6-1-1-1 and with an unbeatable margin they decided not to participate in the final race.

Until this regatta, Tunnicliffe had held the record as the youngest competitor, having set the mark as a 14-year-old skipper in 1997. At that time, she confided that one day she would win the regatta. “I always thought it would be cool to do really well one day,” she said. “This is my fifth time sailing the regatta, my fourth time skippering it. We were getting to the point that we need to get up there sometime soon. I’m happy we sailed really well together and did so well. I have a fabulous crew. Debbie, Molly and Liz sailed together a few times before, and the chemistry has worked perfectly. It makes my life so easy on the race course and they make me look really good.”

WORLD MATCH RACE TOUR – ARGO GROUP KING EDWARD VII GOLD CUP – Bermuda

Hamilton, Bermuda: Ben Ainslie, wearing Rhino Black G12 got the gold he’s been chasing all week. In the Argo Group Gold Cup finals match today, the three time Olympic gold medal winner (one silver), Ben Ainslie (GBR) took the finals 3-1. He has finally etched his name on the coveted King Edward VII Gold Cup along with a host of match race sailing legends. Ainslie and his America’s Cup-backed Team Origin also took home the first place prize purse of $50,000. Ainslie sailed for the British America’s Cup challenger Team Origin with his crew of Matt Cornwell, Iain Percy, and Christian Kamp.

Ben Ainslie in Rhino, and his tactician Iain Percy wearing Jetty Tobacco G12 sunglasses by Kaenon, (also a 2x Olympic Gold Medalist).

Final Results
Ben Ainslie 3 v. Adam Minoprio 1
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