Winners of the Raymarine/YJA Yachtsman of the Year and Raymarine Young Sailor of the Year will be announced during the Collins Stewart London Boat Show, January 2008.
The finalists in the running for the Raymarine/YJA Yachtsman of the Year and Raymarine Young Sailor of the Year titles have been announced. And YJA (Yachting Journalists Association) members face an even tougher decision than usual about who to vote for.
Anybody interested in sailing may make nominations for the award - nominations opened at the Southampton Boat Show in September - and then it is up to YJA members to make the final vote before the award in presented during the Collins Stewart London Boat Show at ExCel (January 11 to 20).
Finalists for Yachtsman of the year are:
- Geoff Holt, the disabled sailor who achieved his Personal Everest in 2007 by sailing around the UK single handed
- Skandia Team GBR members, World and Pre Olympic Champions Sarah Ayton, Sarah Webb and Pippa Wilson, who are World Ranked Number One in the Yngling class and are the only team from any class, and any nation, who have finished top three at every ISAF grade 1 event this year
- Mike Golding who risked his own life to rescue fellow competitor Alex Thomson in the Velux 5 Oceans race in appalling Southern Ocean conditions, thus ruining his own chances of winning the race
- Sir Robin Knox Johnston who completed the Velux 5 Oceans race at the age of 68, 38 years after making the first non-stop solo circumnavigation of the world.
Finalists in the Young Sailor category are:
- Alistair Masters, 15, RYA Youth Squad member who has dominated domestic and international competition in the Techno 293 junior windsurfing class, and has won two gold medals and one silver at the last three world championships
- Holly Scott, winning crew member of Mirror World Championship 2007, who with her skipper (Anna Mackenzie), was part of the first all-girl team to win the title
- Topper World Champion Michael Wood, who devotes hours of his private time to training other youngsters in the RYA West Zone Squad
- Tom Gillard, the first RYA Team GBR sailor to win the 420 European Championships in Medemblik
- Laurence Greenough, who has overcome adversity to enter the RYA South West Topper Zone Squad
The Raymarine Young Sailor of the Year will be announced at 4.15pm, Saturday 12 January on the Main Stage at the Collins Stewart London Boat Show.
The Raymarine/YJA Yachtsman of the Year will be announced at the awards ceremony on Tuesday January 15 at The Painted Hall, the Old Royal Naval College, Greenwich.
