World Champs

Top sailing athletes don’t begin the season wondering what adulations their national sailing authorities will adorn them with. The elite sailor has his or her events, they go after them, and at the end of the year they evaluate their performance. If the year goes well, everything else is icing on the cake.

For all the American sailors that racked up major victories in 2008, the biggest sugar rush went to Terry Hutchinson and Anna Tunnicliffe who were selected to receive the US SAILING's Rolex Yachtsman and Yachtswoman of the Year awards. But that was then, and 2009 is now. While these two will certainly be in the running again, there is a bumper crop of 2009 Champs in their midst:

Paige Railey - Laser Radial European Champ
Jim Richardson/crew - Farr 40 World Champ
George Szabo/Rick Peters - Star World Champ
Bora Gulari - Moth World Champ
Mike Martin/ Jeff Nelson - 505 World Champ

And there could be more before we are done:
Snipe Worlds are in San Diego, CA on Sept. 7-11
Lightning Worlds are in Colchester, VT on Sept. 13-18
Melges 32 Worlds are in Porto Cervo, Sardinia, Italy on Sept. 23-27
Sunfish Worlds are in Nassau, Bahamas on Oct. 19-23
Melges 24 Worlds are in Annapolis, MD on Oct. 26-31

Nominations for the American Rolex award open on 9/30/2009 and end on 11/30/2009. Are we forgetting anyone? Post them in the comments.