TAG Heuer Sailor of the Year, 7,000 votes in less than two days! Here’s how it’s going

As we expected (after 19,000 votes in the first round), this second round of the TAG Heuer Sailor of the Year, the most prestigious award in Italian sailing given by Giornale della Vela since 1991, also started with a bang. Now the going has gotten tough (from 100 candidates there are 50 left, and only the top 25 vote-getters will advance to the semifinals), the votes on the http://velistadellanno.giornaledellavela.com/ are pouring in: it has been less than two days since the “ballot boxes” opened and you have already expressed almost 7,000 (sic!) preferences! We remind you that you can vote until noon on March 14. Let’s see how it’s going.

FIND OUT THE CANDIDATES AND VOTE FOR THEM HERE!

VERY YOUNG PEOPLE IN THE LEAD
Huge popular esteem for the team composed of Sophie Fontanesi, Claudia Quaranta, Alex De Murtas, Lorenzo Pezzilli: the four very youngsters are virtually in the lead with 654 votes at the time of writing. Those terrible Optimist team boys: at the European Team Racing Championship they first defeated Turkey in the semifinals and then won a hard-fought final against Sweden 2 – 0. What a satisfaction for Coach Simone Gesi and their coaches!

GREAT SEASON ON THE HIGH SEAS
In second place, but just a step away from the top (643 votes), is Morgan IV, Nicola De Gemmis’ Grand Soleil 39 (642 votes), just back from a great season: at the Rolex Capri Sailing Week he excelled 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.

AROUND ITALY ON THE HOBIE CAT
Third were the two brothers Francesco and Giacomo Galimberti (423 votes). Beautiful story, theirs: twenty-two and twenty years old, from Milan, the two brothers proved that in the summer, young people can also do something else rather than spend their days on their cell phones and nights in discos: circumnavigating Italy, from Ventimiglia to Trieste, on Banana Joe, a small Hobie Cat from the 1980s. Fifty-four days on an uninhabitable 5-meter boat. Stopping to sleep on beaches, cooking over fires.

The top ten continues with Matteo Sericano (413 votes), Marco Carpinello (361 votes), Tekno (334 votes), Carlo De Paoli (316 votes), Gentilina (294 votes), Ambrogio Beccaria (237 votes), and Crazy Horse II (230 votes). Let’s take a peek at the back of the pack: who, so far, is in by a hair’s breadth and at great risk? In 25th place (83 votes), the last one needed to pass the round, is Tatì, the Marchi 47 with which Andrea Fanfani has launched himself in the wake of Bernard Moitessier, but just one point behind Loucura Zentrum, Frederic Roncone’s Este 31, is breathing down his neck.

HERE THE RANKING IN REAL TIME

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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).

FIND OUT ALL THE NEWS ABOUT THE SAILOR OF THE YEAR