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8 October 2012, 02:10 pm

ISAF Rolex WSOY - Saskia Sills

Sills flies the British flag in Dun Laoghaire, Ireland

©ISAF

ISAF Rolex World Sailor of the Year Award 2012

Dublin, Ireland

Inspired to take up sailing by her older brother, Saskia Sills took to windsurfing like a duck to water and has impressed on the international scene.

At her first international regatta in 2009 Sills took her inaugural world crown, the Techno 293 Under-15 World Championship at just 13-years-old. Two years later the rising starlet of windsurfing added the Under-17 title to her list of achievements.

In 2012 Sills moved up into the RS:X where unprecedented success has continued to follow her every step of the way. At only her second international RS:X regatta Sills won Under-17 gold at the RS:X European Championship and bronze overall, aged just 15.

Less than two weeks later the Brit took to Dublin Bay, Ireland for the 2012 Four Star Pizza ISAF Youth Sailing World Championship. As the second youngest sailor in the fleet and in amongst the defending champion and Youth Olympic Games gold medallist the Brit could not be touched. She came out of the blocks flying and double bullets on the opening day sent out a message to the 23-boat fleet. As the week progressed her rivals were left in her wake as she sealed a comprehensive victory.

For more on Sillsand to view pictures of her success visit her ISAF Rolex World Sailor of the Year profile.

Joining Sills as female nominees for ISAF Rolex World Sailor of the Year 2012 are Tamara Echegoyen, Angela Pumariega and Sofia Toro (ESP), Helena Lucas (GBR) and Lijia Xu (CHN).

The Voting
The winners are selected by the ISAF Member National Authorities (MNAs), the national governing bodies for sailing around the world. The MNAs are now invited to vote for the male and female nominee they believe most deserves the Award.

The winners will be announced at the ISAF Rolex World Sailor of the Year Awards presentation and dinner, taking place on Tuesday 6 November 2012. The venue for the event is the Mansion House in Dublin, Ireland.

Each winner will be presented with the prestigious ISAF Rolex World Sailor of the Year Award Trophy and a distinctive Rolex timepiece.

Full profiling of each nominee and their achievements will continues through to 10 October on the ISAF Rolex World Sailor of the Year Awards microsite at www.sailing.org/worldsailor.

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The Men's 470 lead went to and fro all week but Sime Fantela and Igor Marenic (CRO) held their nerve to add a gold medal to their two silvers from the 2013-2014 ISAF Sailing World Cup series. Silver went to Anton Dahlberg and Fredrik Bergstrom (SWE) whilst Mat Belcher and Will Ryan (AUS) took bronze.

Female ISAF Rolex World Sailors of the Year Jo Aleh and Polly Powrie (NZL) won the Women's 470 Medal Race and with it gold as they made it three consecutive 200-point regatta wins in a row.
France's Camille Lecointre and Hélène Defrance had held the lead in the Women's 470 for the large part of the week but came undone on the final day as a sixth knocked them off gold medal position. They were made to settle for silver whilst bronze went to Hannah Mills and Saskia Clark (GBR).

Billy Besson and Marie Riou went into the Nacra 17 Medal Race with an unassailable 22 point lead and the gold medal sewn up. ISAF Sailing World Cup Miami gold medallists Vittorio Bissaro and Silvia Sicouri (ITA) added a World Cup silver to their collection having finished in fifth. Bronze went to Darren Bundock and Nina Curtis (AUS).

Gold fleet racing got underway in six Olympic events at ISAF Sailing World Cup Mallorca. We caught up with three of the leaders and got race highlights from all of the day's proceedings. View results from Mallorca on the ISAF Sailing World Cup website here http://www.sailing.org/worldcup/results/index.php

The 2011 World Champion Giles Scott (GBR) made a successful come from behind victory on Saturday to take home the gold medal. Scott finished nine seconds behind Luke Lawrence (USA) for second place. Overnight leader Oliver Tweddell (AUS) slipped up with an eighth place finish Saturday after leading by nine points.