Thursday, September 27, 2007

Rohan Veal - Rolex World Sailor of the Year?

A few weeks ago, Rohan and I spent a great day playing with cars. We share a passion for Porsches. However, even on a day away from sailing, it was hard to avoid the obvious subject. Rohan also let me into a little secret which is now public. For the second time, he has been nominated for Rolex World Sailor of the Year. And I can tell you that the boy is pretty blown away about this.

For those of you who don't know, Rohan is known as Mr Foiler, being the sailor who has done most to promote foiling Moths and who is, without doubt, the man who sets the standard. He took that standard even higher earlier this year by winning the Moth Worlds , counting straight firsts. Not only that, he gave a masterclass in how to sail in heavy weather that made everybody else look ordinary when in fact, the others included Olympians and World class sailors.

Rohan's domination should, in itself be enough but the icing on the cake is the way he has been an ambassador for his branch of the sport and for the sport in general. Sure, it is his job but Rohan attracts crowds wherever he goes, be it the small little dinghy club or Alinghi's base the day before the last race of the AC. You know that something special is happening when the whole Alinghi squad down tools to watch. In addition, Rohan has fired the imagination of the powers behind the sport, the ISAF Executive.

So, this year, based on who has been nominated, Rohan is my World Sailor of the Year. However, this is where politics takes over and who knows what will happen.

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