Annual Yacht Sailor Awards Posted

Top United States sailors are awarded the US Sailing Rolex 2007 Yachtsman and Yachtswoman of the Year honors at the New York Yacht Club

US Sailing and Rolex Watch USA announced today that the 2007 Rolex Yachtsman and Yachtswoman of the Year have been selected. Members of US Sailing nominated candidates for the awards and a judging panel made up of sailing journalists evaluated them. Award winners will be honored and presented with an engraved Rolex watch at a special luncheon to be held at the New York Yacht Club in Manhattan on 29 February 2009.

Jeff Linton - Rolex Yachtsman of the Year. Serving as helmsman in the Lightning class, Jeff and his team in 2007 won the Lightning World Championship in Athens, Greece, the Lightning Winter Championship in St. Petersburg, Florida, the South American Championship held in Bogota, Columbia, and the Florida District Championship. Linton also won in two other one-design events, the Flying Scot North American Championship and the Classic Moth National Championship.

Sally Barkow - Rolex Yachtswoman of the Year. This is Barkow's second appearance as the top woman racer, she won the award in 2005 and has been a finalist for the last six years. Sally had a significant racing year winning the Rolex Miami OCR and Princess Sofia Trophy in the Yngling class, and in match racing to win the Boat U.S. Santa Maria Cup in Annapolis and the Vitória Brasil Women’s Cup in Brazil. Barkow capped the year winning the US Sailing Rolex International Women’s Keelboat Championship (IWKC)