Here are in detail, the resumes and reasons for the nomination of the 25 “nominees” who remained in the race after the second skimming that took place thanks to your vote. For convenience, we have decided to leave the divisions in categories, which will not be binding at all. You can vote (advisory vote: the GdV jury will also take your preferences into account when choosing the final 5 nominees for TAG Heuer 2015 Sailor of the Year) until April 13.

BACK TO VOTING

THE LIST OF THE “MAGNIFICENT 25”

THE MONOTYPE SPECIALISTS


ACHILLE ONORATO

Vincenzo Onorato’s son inherited his father’s great passion for racing: last season for him was silver-tinged, with second place at both the Melges 20 World Championship and the Sailing Series in the same class, aboard Mascalzone Latino jr. Good blood doesn’t lie!

ROBERTO TOMASINI GRINOVER
2014 was a banner year for Roberto Tomasini Grinover of Gorizia, owner of the Robertissima series of boats (including the Melges 32 and Mini Maxi ex-Ran). So many good results, let’s try to summarize some of them: second place in Palmavela, victory at the European Melges 32 won on Lake Garda, victory at the Rolex Volcano Race as part of the Rolex Capri Sailing Week, Giraglia.

THE WINNING OFFSHORE BOATS



RED GLOBULE – ESTE 31

It may be a 1996 design, but the Este 31, born from the pencil of Gérman Frers, continues to provide satisfaction. It is no coincidence that Alessandro Burzi, owner of the Este 31 Globulo Rosso, came close to winning Overall Owner of the Year (which went to Giuffré) in 2014, triumphing in Category 4, reserved for smaller boats.

LOW NOISE – M37
Born in 2007 to a design by Maurizio Cossutti, the M37 Low Noise has won a lot, along with its owner Giuseppe Giuffré: an 11-meter created to be a war machine especially in ORC races. In 2014 he pulled off a one-two punch, winning the ORC World and European Championships.

ROBERTISSIMA III
Roberto Tomasini Grinover was the most voted candidate during the first round of voting. And among the “chosen by you,” the JV72 Robertissima III repeated the success of its owner. Indeed, the former Ran 2 is a winning boat, with triumphs at the Volcano Race and Capri Sailing Week (and second place at the World Mini Maxi).

THE WINNING VINTAGE BOATS
THE BLACKAMOOR OF VENICE (FRERS, 1975)
Gérman Frers’ hand is felt even after 40 years. The Moro di Venezia I, in laminated wood, the first in the successful series of boats desired by Raul Gardini, now armed by Massimiliano Ferruzzi, finished in second place among the Classics at the Panerai Classic Yachts Challenge and won in its Les Voiles de Saint Tropez category.

NAMIB (SANGERMANI, 1967)
Pietro Bianchi’s Sangermani Namib (with Mauro Pelaschier and Davide Besana aboard) has won the 2014 Panerai Classic Yachts Challenge. The boat is dated 1967 and Bianchi found it in a state of semi-abandonment: given the results, the three years of restoration, from 2010 to 2012, were well worth it.

SAMURAI (SANGERMANI, 1962)
Luigi Pavese’s Sangermani Samurai won in its class (classic boats) the Puig Vela Clasica regattas in Barcelona: built by the Ligurian shipyard in 1962, this splendid sloop is 18.90 meters long and is still very competitive today.

THE DERIVISTS.


CAROLINA ALBANO

Triestina, she is the strongest Italian performer in the Byte CII class: 16 years old, last year she won the European overall and missed the world podium by a whisker by finishing fourth. She qualified the nation for the Youth Olympics in Nanjing, in which (again on the Bytes) she finished in eighth place after being in the podium area until the end. Carolina also races in the Laser Radial, where she took second place at the Youth Nationals.

ETTORE BOTTICINI/LORENZO GENNARI
The Vaurien, whose design dates back to 1951, is a drift in which we excel. Ettore Botticini and Lorenzo Gennari, from Maremma, won in the waters of Grosseto the World Class Championship. There must have been a few boats, you will say. Wrong. Eighty crews from all over, very high level. Good guys.

ALEXANDER CALDARI
For the future, we must focus on him. Alessandro Caldari, from Romagna, reigning Italian Optimist Champion: class of 2001, won the national title with a day to spare (in addition to many other regattas around the Boot)!

ELIZABETH FAITHFUL
A native of Cagliari, born in 1999, Elisabetta Fedele ended her Optimist career on a high note by winning the Italian Championship in her women’s ranking, moreover finishing fifth overall. Power to women!

VICTORIO GALLINARO
The male equivalent of the aforementioned Carolina Albano is named Vittorio Gallinaro: for him in 2014 a fourth place at the Byte CII World Championships and qualification for the Youth Olympics in Nanjing.

GIANLUIGI UGOLINI/GIULIO ZIZZARI
The Hobie Cat 16 offers excellent and always crowded regattas. In Italy, we have two true champions: Gianluigi Ugolini and Giulio Zizzari of the Compagnia della Vela of Rome, winners in 2014 (for the second consecutive time) of the National Class Championship.

THE MARINERS
MATTEO MICELI – 44 YEARS OLD
The 44-year-old Roman yachtsman is back in the news by embarking on a new, original venture, driven by an “eco” spirit: a solo round-the-world voyage without stopover or assistance aboard a self-built Class 40 modified to be completely energy self-sufficient, with solar panels, wind power, hydro generators and a waste recycling system. And food, thanks to an on-board vegetable garden and La Bionda and La Mora–two chickens.

ANDREA MURA – 50 YEARS OLD
Italy needs navigators like this, who never give up, and eventually, should it take years, succeed. The second place at the 2014 Route du Rhum served as a fitting farewell to his trusty Open 50 squire Vento di Sardegna and transition to the new IMOCA 60 aboard which Andrea Mura will participate in the 2016 Vendée Globe (solo round-the-world voyage without stopover or assistance starting in Les Sables d’Olonne). Finally, at 50 years old, Mura has fulfilled his dream and will be able to compare himself with the world’s greatest loners.

MICHELE ZAMBELLI – 24 YEARS OLD
The Italian Mini 650 Champion, Proto class, is Michele Zambelli from Romagna, class of 1990. This could be his year, as on his new Proto Illumia he will enter the 2015 Mini Transat with the clear goal of getting on the podium. The premise is great: last year he took third place at Les Sables-Horta-Les Sables. Now that Giancarlo Pedote has dropped out of the Mini class, he could be its heir, capable of giving the French a hard time…

IRC/ORC AND OFFSHORE SHIPOWNERS
GIUSEPPE GIUFFRÉ – 73 YEARS OLD
Giuseppe Giuffré, this year, achieved the one-two punch dreamed of by every shipowner by winning both the World (Class C) that the European ORC (Class B) with his M37 Low Noise (helmsman Duccio Colombi, tactician Lorenzo Bodini). But the Lombardi publisher (and Cavaliere del Lavoro) is one who loves a challenge. “Tired” of winning everything, he decided to challenge himself again by purchasing the new Low Noise, an Italia Yachts Custom 9.98. Will he be able to replicate his many successes? Meanwhile, he was elected by the UVAI Shipowner of the Year 2014…

PIERO PLATO – 42 YEARS OLD
It is by no means easy to win the Italian Offshore Championship, the national circuit that brings together the fourteen most important offshore regattas on the calendar and has involved more than 360 boats. Piero Plato, a Genoese owner of the J-111 Black Bull, a long experience as a miner behind him, succeeded. And almost always minists are his crewmates. Put many loners together, team up, and win.

THE OLYMPIC DRIFTERS
VITTORIO BISSARO/SILVIA SICOURI
Vittorio and Silvia (27 and 26) are 2014’s biggest surprise in Olympic sailing. ISAF rankings in hand, they are, for now, the strongest athletes in the world on the new mixed class of Nacra 17 catamarans. They are our most concrete medal hope in Rio 2016.

MICHELE CITIZENS
Michele Cittadini, 17, is the Italian Youth RS:X Champion: to be watched, he has always done and is doing very well. Last summer he won bronze at the European Youth Championships.

ANTONIO SQUIZZATO
The strongest, in Italy is him. Antonio Squizzato, a specialist in the 2.4 mR Paralympic class, won bronze at the European Championships in Valencia in the fall, and dominated at the CICO in Loano in his category, becoming national champion for the second year in a row.

SILVIA ZENNARO
Thanks to her results, chioggio’s Silvia Zennaro, 25, qualified the nation for Rio in the Laser Radial class. The path is arduous, but the Venice Sailing Company athlete, the reigning Italian champion, is the most likely candidate to represent us.

OWNERS OF VINTAGE BOATS

Owner of Samurai, the 1962-dated Sangermani sloop that won the Puig Vela Clasica in Barcelona, the important Spanish event reserved for vintage boats, Luigi Pavese is the “guardian angel” of his own boat, which has belonged to the Pavese family since its launch. He loves these kinds of boats so much that he became the secretary of the Sangermani Club.

DESIGNERS.
MATTEO POLLI
Matteo Polli, Chief Designer of Italia Yachts, knows how to make the boats he designs run. From 2014 are the Italia Yachts 15.98 and the fast cruiser-racer Low Noise 2 (the first Italia 9.98 off-roader) commissioned by Giuseppe Giuffré (for whom Polli also optimized the M37 Low Noise), which was immediately a winner in the first races it faced.