Jan 6, 2011

Rolex Yachtsman & Yachtswoman Of The Year
Trophee Jules Verne winner Stan Honey (Palo Alto, Calif.) and Snipe Women's World Champion Anna Tunnicliffe (Plantation, Fla.) today were named US SAILING's 2010 Rolex Yachtsman and Yachtswoman of the Year. A shortlist of 10 male and six 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. The winners will be honored on February 25, 2011, during a luncheon at the New York Yacht Club in Manhattan, when they will be presented with specially-engraved Rolex timepieces.

Established in 1961 by US SAILING and sponsored by Rolex Watch, U.S.A. since 1980, the annual presentation of US SAILING's Rolex Yachtsman and Yachtswoman of the Year awards are considered the sport's ultimate recognition of an individual's outstanding on-the-water achievements for the calendar year. Over its history the coveted award has been presented to 39 men and 32 women.

2010 Rolex Yachtsman of the Year: Stan Honey (Palo Alto, Calif.), previously nominated for the Rolex Yachtsman of the Year Award in 2006 as the Volvo Ocean Race winning navigator aboard ABN Amro One, was cited as "one of the most outstanding offshore sailors known world-wide" by a member of the award's selection panel that recognized him as the 2010 Rolex Yachtsman of the Year. Honey becomes the second American in the history of the award to receive the honor for the fastest circumnavigation of the globe.

Having been shortlisted for the Rolex Yachtswoman of the Year Award for the sixth consecutive year, Snipe Women's World Champion Anna Tunnicliffe (Plantation, Fla.) has become the first woman in the award's history to earn it three consecutive years. The achievement is the latest milestone for this sailing phenom as she joins Jane Pegel (1964, '71, '72) and Jan O'Malley (1969, '70, '77) in the record book as three-time winners of the Yachtswoman of the Year distinction. Only two women have won the Rolex Yachtswoman of the Year title more: JJ Fetter Isler (1986, ' 91, '97, '00) and Betsy Alison, whose five honors (1981, '82, '84, '93 and '98) have eclipsed even Ted Turner's four title wins, the most for any American man.

Tunnicliffe's position at the forefront of women's sailing, both nationally and internationally, appears deceivingly effortless. The selection panel lauded the number of classes in which she competes and is competitive in. "She hardly trains in the Laser Radial anymore, yet wins when she sails that boat," remarked one panelist about the 2008 Laser Olympic Gold Medalist who won the 2010 Laser Radial Women's North American Championship. Another panelist commented that "she is our modern-day Betsy Alison - doing it all."