TAG Heuer Sailor of the Year: here’s who’s going strong in the semifinals

It hasn’ t even been two days since voting opened for the TAG Heuer Sailor of the Year semifinal (the most prestigious award in Italian sailing, given by the Giornale della Vela since 1991) and you’ve already voted in more than 7,200 at http://velistadellanno.giornaledellavela.com! At this stage your vote has advisory value (The Sailing Newspaper Jury will also take your preferences into account to select the finalists from which, at the Evening of Champions on May 3 at the TAG Heuer VELAFestival of Santa Margherita, the Sailor of the Year and all the other awards will be revealed) but the tussle is as heated as ever.

VOTE HERE FOR YOUR SAILOR OF THE YEAR

Let’s see how the voting is going …

TOP THREE STORIES
Leading the way, with more than 1,100 votes, is Pierluigi De Felice: Neapolitan born in 1981, after his success in the Extreme Sailing Series circuit in 2017 with Sap, again with the same crew he finished third in 2018 but more importantly sealed his return to Luna Rossa in the team that will challenge the America’s Cup in 2021. If that was not enough, he took part in Stig’s victory in the Melges 40 circuit.

His resume is studded with success: Pierluigi (for friends Pigi) He began his sailing career at the age of 7 sailing the optimist continuing with the 420 and 470 and then joining the Mascalzone Latino team with which he participated in the 31 and 32 America’s Cup. In 2012 he joined the Luna Rossa team with which he won the 12-13 ACWS and participated in the 34th America’s Cup in San Francisco, continued preparation for the 35 AC but the team decided not to participate and now he is again involved in the role of Sail trimmer for the 36 America’s cup to be held in Auckland in 2021. Pigi in his career has won the major international circuits ACWS LV Trophy Extreme Sailing Series Tp 52 M40 M32 and Farr40 and ‘was 1 first in the Isaf World Match Racing ranking won the Louis Vuitton Trophy Nice and won 2 Golds 4 Silvers and 4 Bronzes in World Championships in different classes and won 11 National titles.

In second place was the Grand Solei 39 Morgan IV, owned by Nicola de Gemmis, with over 800 votes. It was a great 2018 for Morgan IV owned by Nicola de Gemmis of Bari, who excelled at Rolex Capri Sailing Week in both the Tyrrhenian National Championship and the Three Gulfs regatta, in the ORC-A class 2 grouping. He also won the Punta Stendardo trophy in Gaeta and the Italian title in the 2C group A class.

In third position Sofia Tomasoni, with 681 votes: In the first appearance of TT:R (Twin Tip Racing) kiteboarding at the Olympics (so far only the youth ones), Italy immediately climbs to the top of the world with the extraordinary Sofia Tomasoni, after a season full of satisfactions: in one year she triumphed at the world and European youth in Dakhla, Morocco, at the kitesurfing world championships and also at the national youth championships, as well as winning silver at the TT:R youth worlds.

But we are only at the beginning…

A necessary note: our IT team monitors the progress of voting 24 hours a day, and if they find irregularities and “suspicious” votes they will remove them in real time.

YOU CAN VIEW THE FULL RANKINGS HERE

HERE THE DETAILED REGULATIONS OF THE SAILOR OF THE YEAR

THREE VOTES PER PHASE
Starting this year there are two new features: it will be possible to cast three votes per stage (and no longer just one)! You can decide to give three preferences to a single candidate, or divide them among several candidates. For the validation of each vote, you will be asked for your email address: we recommend that you type in the right one; you will find out why in a moment:

VOTE AND WIN!
This year there are two more (mouth-watering) opportunities to vote for your favorite Velista of the Year candidates. Among all the survey voters who will take part in the Evening of Champions (you will be asked to register for the event with the email you provided during voting), on Friday, May 3 at 7 p.m. at theTAG Heuer VELAFestival, will be raffled off a prestigious Aquaracer chronograph from our longtime partner TAG Heuer And, thanks to new partner of the Sailor of the Year Globesailor a long weekend on a boat provided by Sail Italy (May 8-9-10, 2020 in the base of Procida aboard a Beneteau Oceanis 38, 3 cabins and 2 bathrooms, skipper not included).

THE TAG HEUER YOUNG AWARD BY B&G
This year the winner of the prize reserved for under-23 youth is even richer thanks to B&G, Navico Group brand among the leaders in electronics for sailboats: B&G will award the winner with an unforgettable experience in which he will have the opportunity to compete with Olympic sailors, gain advice and learn as much as possible about the technologies used in a “pro” regatta and thus grow as a sailor and professionally. The award is in addition to the TAG Heuer Aquaracer chronograph that is routinely awarded to Sailor of the Year awardees

FIND OUT ALL THE NEWS ABOUT THE SAILOR OF THE YEAR