YJA Yachtsman of the Year and YJA Young Sailor of the Year 2022 trophies awarded at the RYA Dinghy & Watersports Show.
Mike McIntyre, Star class gold medallist at the 1988 Olympics, received a loud cheer as he announced the winner of the YJA Yachtsman of the Year as Hattie Rogers . . . the youngest-ever winner of the trophy.
Hattie won the SailGP WASZP INSPIRE Grand Final in San Francisco and is an integral part of the Athena Pathway Programme in the ETF26 Series.
Fellow shortlisted nominees were Sevenstar Round Britain and Ireland Race winner Richard Palmer, Fireball, Merlin Rocket, Scorpion, Solo and Streaker dinghy supremo Tom Gillard and International Moth World Champion Dylan Fletcher-Scott.
Eilidh McIntyre, gold medallist in the Women’s 470 class at the 2020 Olympics, announced the winner of the YJA Young Sailor of the Year award as 17-year-old Charlie Dixon.
Charlie dominated the Youth Worlds in the Hague in the iQFoil windsurfing discipline with eight wins from eleven races, as well as wins at the International Games on Lake Garda, and the under-19 Worlds at Lake Silvaplana.
The other shortlisted nominees were 15-year-old Joe Rowe, who won the Topper World Championship on Lake Garda, and the Scaramouche Sailing Trust’s ILCA and Etchells sailor Kai Hockley.
Previous recipients of the YJA Yachtsman of the Year include Sir Ben Ainslie, Sir Robin Knox-Johnston, Dame Ellen MacArthur, Alex Thomson, and Dee Caffari to name but a few, as the list is truly remarkable.
The last four winners of the historic YJA Yachtsman of the Year were all women, including the first joint winners, Nikki Henderson and Tracey Edwards in 2018, while in 2019 it was won by Lucy Macgregor, and in 2021 Pip Hare, the current holder.
Top Image – Winners are joined on stage by, from Left to Right – Eilidh McIntyre, YOTY Nominee Tom Gillard, Hattie Rogers, Charlie Dixon, YSOTY nominee Joe Rowe, Mike McIntyre.
Related Post:
SailGP – Hattie Rogers wins Inspire Racing x WASZP series in San Francisco
iQFOiL Youth Championships – Charlie Dixon takes iQFOiL European Title
