BURLING AND TUKE NOMINATED FOR WORLD SAILOR OF THE YEAR AGAIN

Aquece Rio – International Sailing Regatta 2015 is the second sailing test event in preparation for the Rio 2016 Olympic Sailing Competition. Held out of Marina da Gloria from 15-22 August, the Olympic test event welcomes more than 330 sailors from 52 nations in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Credit Pedro Martinez/Sailing Energy
© PedroMartinez / SailingEnergy

Emirates Team New Zealand’s Peter Burling and Blair Tuke have been nominated again for the 2015 ISAF Rolex World Sailor of the Year.

Since their nomination for the 2014 their unbeaten run in the 49er class has continued to a run of 20 consecutive regattas wins which spearheads their nomination, including victories at the 2015 Aquece Rio, Olympic Test event, ISAF Sailing World Cup Hyeres and Weymouth and Portland as well as Trofeo Princesa Sofia.

 

Alongside their Olympic campaign the pair have become key members of Emirates Team New Zealand on the America's Cup World Series in 2015, along with skipper Glenn Ashby, Ray Davies and Guy Endean. A second at the first leg in Portsmouth, Great Britain turned into victory a few weeks in Gothenburg, Sweden to give them the overall advantage.

 

If the America's Cup and Olympic Games wasn't enough to whet their appetite, Burling dominated the Moth World Championships early in 2015 to take the title with Tuke following in sixth.

 

“Obviously we are really happy to be honoured with another nomination this year. We are up against a highly talented field of sailors, so winning the award is never easy.” Said Burling

 

The full list of nominees are:

 

Male

Peter Burling & Blair Tuke (NZL)

Loick Peyron (FRA)

Giles Scott (GBR)

Ian Walker (GBR)

Ian Williams (GBR)

 

Female

Sarah Ayton (GBR)

Sam Davies (GBR)

Elena Kalinina (RUS)

Lotte Meldgaard Pedersen (DEN)

Charline Picon (FRA)

 

The awards are set to be held on Tuesday, 10 November 2015 in Sanya, China, the Awards ceremony celebrates the world's finest sailors' achievements during the qualifying period from the end of September 2014 through to 31 August 2015.