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The Busan Yacht Club in Haeundae-gu, Busan, Korea, is the venue for the 2009 ISAF Rolex World Sailor of the Year Awards Dinner and Presentation - a celebration of the world's best sailors and also of the sport itself. Danish sailing star Jesper Bank, a triple Olympic medallist and winner of the ISAF Match Racing World Championship, will host the evening whilst HRH Crown Prince Frederik of Denmark will announce the male and female winners of this year's Awards. The Crown Prince and Lionel Schurch of Rolex SA will present the winners with the unique marble and silver World Sailor Trophy and a personalized Rolex timepiece.

The ISAF Rolex World Sailor of the Year Award is the highest award a sailor can receive in recognition of his/her outstanding achievements and its presentention is always one of the highlights of the Annual Conference of the International Sailing Federation (ISAF). This year four female and six male nominees have been shortlisted for the Award, based on their achievements during the qualifying period of 1 September 2008 to 31 August 2009. The Awards winners are selected based on a worldwide selection process that incorporates an open invitation to nominations, followed by a vote amongst the 130 member nations of ISAF.

The 2009 nominees are:

FEMALE

Sam Davies (GBR)
Hilary Lister (GBR)
Blanca Manchón (ESP)
Anna Tunnicliffe (USA)

MALE

Pascal Bidégorry (FRA)
Michel Desjoyeaux (FRA)
Paul Goodison (GBR)
Torben Grael (BRA)
Nathan Outteridge (AUS)

Click here to read the achievements of the shortlisted sailors.

The Awards have been held every year since 1994 and past winners include Peter Blake (NZL), Ellen MacArthur (GBR), Robert Scheidt (BRA) and Russell Coutts (SUI). In 2008 the Awards were presented to four-time Olympic medal winners Ben Ainslie (GBR) and Alessandra Sensini (ITA).

Visit the ISAF Rolex World Sailor of the Year Awards microsite at www.sailing.org/worldsailor