Rolex Yachtsman and Woman of the Year

And the winners of the 2011 Rolex Yachtsman and Yachtswoman of the Year awards are (insert drum roll)… Bill Hardesty of San Diego, the reigning Etchells World Champion, and Anna Tunnicliffe of Plantation, FL, the first woman to be honored with the award four years in a row.

Besides winning the Etchells championship and other major Etchells regattas as skipper, Bill has excelled as tactician over the past year, with diverse and far-flung wins such as the Congressional Cup in Long Beach, the Monsoon Cup in Malaysia, the Portimão Portugal Match Cup in Portugal, the Stena Match Cup in Sweden, the Open de España Match Race in Spain, and the CMRC Grade 2 Invitational in Chicago.

Anna Tunnicliffe led her women’s match racing Team Maclaren (with crew Molly Vandemoer of Stanford and Debbie Capozzi of Bayfield, NY) to an ISAF Sailing World Championship that qualified them for a berth in the Elliott 6m keelboat event at the 2012 Olympics. Other winning venues for the team this year include Skandia Sail For Gold in Weymouth, UK, and the Santa Maria Cup in Annapolis.

The awards ceremony will be held on February 22 at St. Francis Yacht Club. Read more at US Sailing.