Subscribe to Anna's Newsletter
| 2009 ISAF Rolex World Sailor of the Year Award | | Print | |
|
November 11, 2009
St. Thomas, USVI
Wow! It feels truly amazing
to have won the 2009 ISAF Rolex World Sailor of the Year Award yesterday evening
in Busan, Korea. I am very honored and proud to have won, and
overwhelmed with happiness. It has been a great year and I couldn’t
have done it without the support of everyone. I would like
to give special thank you's to Carmeuse and USSTAG for their support
of my sailing, my parents for being my managers, my husband for being
so supportive of all my sailing. I must also thank my coaches, and
everyone who sails with me, especially Molly, Liz, Debbie, and Alice.
HRH Crown Prince Frederik of Denmark, Anna Tunnicliffe, female winner and Lionel Schurch from Rolex SA
Photo by: Rolex / Daniel Forster
The award was given out during
the annual ISAF Conference that was held in Korea this year. The
awards dinner is a mid-conference event where they honor the finalists
for their accomplishments over the past year. I was up against
some fantastic sailors: Sam Davies, the “Roxy Girl”, who most notably
sailed the Vendee Globe race and finished 4th overall; Hilary
Lister, who is a truly amazing person, sailed around
Briton on a 40 day stage solo effort on a sip-puff system in her boat;
and Blanca Machon from Spain, who is an accomplished windsurfer and medaled
in just about everything she sailed this year. Only Hilary
was in attendance at the awards ceremony. Blanca got sick a few
days before and couldn’t make it, and Sam is competing in a race across
the Atlantic.
It was a great evening.
The dinner was held in the sail measurement building of the 1988 Olympic
Games. It was decorated and looked wonderful. Hosting the
event was Jesper Banks from Denmark, another fantastic sailor with three
Olympic Medals in his possession. Brad and I got to ride from
the airport to the hotel with him the first night we arrived, so it
was great to get to chat with him a bit. Handing out the awards
was HRH Crowned Prince Frederik of Denmark. I was actually
lucky enough to sit next to him at dinner, which made my night
even more special.
The evening started around
19:30 and lasted most of the rest of the day/night. The finalists were
announced and introduced just before dinner started. We ate dinner
and just before dessert, we were called up onto stage for a question
and answer session. Then dessert was served and we were all told
the announcement would be following. It was, but it seemed to
be a long time before they dimmed the lights to signal that we getting
to the announcement stage. I wasn’t too anxious up to that
point, but as soon as the lights went down, all the butterflies in my
stomach started to fly around, and I was so nervous. When HRH
announced my name, I didn’t even hear him say my last name, I heard
him say “Anna”, and then I heard Brad sitting next to me say, “You
did it Bear!” (Bear is his nickname for me). I turned to him
and gave him a huge hug and went up to collect my award and say my thanks.
I was very nervous still and my acceptance speech was rather short, and I think my
voice was a bit shaky, but I think that is permissible in such a situation.
After I was finished and got back to my seat, I started to cry because I
was so overwhelmed with emotion. I think the hardest part of this
event, is that all year the competitions that we do are within our control
and we know what is going on or is about to happen. Here, very
few people knew before they made the announcement and it was quite
nerve-racking.
But again, I am very happy and delighted.
Brad and I flew home today and now I am in St Thomas for the start of
the US Women’s Match Racing National Championships, which start at
9am tomorrow morning I think. Luckily I didn’t switch time zones
when I went to Korea, so I should be ready to go. You can check
the results at the regatta website.
Again, I would like to thank
everyone for their continued support of my sailing, and I am even more
inspired to work hard to win Gold in London in 2012.
Sail Hard,
Anna
|
Team Member
Anna: "To achieve our goals, we need 4D's:
Dream, Desire, Dedication, Discipline"
TM
Olympic Gold Medalist, World Class Woman Laser Radial Sailor And Now World Class Women's Match Racer
Representing the USA, Anna Tunnicliffe won the Gold Medal in the Women's Laser Radial dinghy at the 2008 Olympic Games in Qingdao, China. Anna was the ISAF world's Number One-ranked women's Radial sailor from April 9, 2008 to May 2010. She was voted 2009 & 2011 ISAF Rolex World Sailor of the Year. Now Anna, skipper of Team Maclaren, has teamed up with Molly O'Bryan Vandemoer and Debbie Capozzi to take on the world and go for Gold in 2012 London Olympic Games in Women's Match Racing and the team is currently ranked #1 in the ISAF WMR rankings.
Useful Links to help raise
the level of your match racing game: