KEY POINTS:
Mike Sanderson has become the third New Zealander to win the International Sailing Federation World Sailor of the Year Award.
At an awards ceremony in Helsinki, American laser radial champion Paige Railey and Sanderson were honoured for their outstanding achievements over the last year with Railey winning several
major international regattas and Sanderson leading ABN Amro One to victory in the Volvo Ocean Race.
Russell Coutts won the award twice - in 1995 for Team New Zealand's win in the America's Cup and in 2003 for Alinghi's win. Sir Peter Blake and Sir Robin Knox Johnston were joint winners of the inaugural award in 1994 as skippers of Enza New Zealand, the catamaran that set a new 74-day record non-stop around the world.
Few teams have dominated a round-the-world race quite like Sanderson's ABN Amro One. His team not only came up with the fastest boat but knew how to sail the Volvo Open better than anyone.
Over eight months and 31,500 miles, ABN Amro One won all but three of the nine offshore legs and all but two of seven in port races. Other Kiwi crew members were Brad Jackson, Mark Christensen, David Endean and Tony Mutter.
"I'm unbelievably honoured," Sanderson said. "These awards are something I've always followed with great interest and to follow in the footsteps of names like Russell Coutts is amazing. I don't consider myself to be in the same league but for people to nominate me for this is a great honour."
Joining a team like ABN Amro One was a dream come true.
"For all 12 of us on the boat, including the two guys who joined us for the in port races, this is a special award. We had a really special relationship, we had a great team, we got on well and we loved doing what we were doing. The fact that we've been honoured here by the world of sailing is very cool."
Sanderson beat Australian Peter Gilmour and French sailors Sebastien Josse, Yves Parlier and Bruno Peyron for the men's award.
Sanderson has also been nominated for Yachting New Zealand's sailor of the year award where he is up against boardsailor Tom Ashley, 420 sailors Carl Evans and Peter Burling, keel boat sailor Anatole Masfen, star sailors Hamish Pepper and Carl Williams, 470 sailors Richard and John Power and Finn sailor Dan Slater. The awards ceremony is on Friday night at the Royal New Zealand yacht squadron.
It was the second consecutive year that Railey, 19, from Florida has been nominated for the female award being pipped by Ellen Macarthur (GBR) last year. Railey's rise to the top has been impressive. She moved seamlessly from the top of youth sailing to the top of the sport at senior level. Last year, she won the youth world championship in Korea and then went on to win the senior world championship title in Brazil.
This year, she had victories at the French Olympic Sailing Week, the ISAF World Sailing Games and at the Olympic Test Regatta in Qingdao.
