Lucy MacGregor and Matilda Nicholls voted 2019 Sailors of the Year

Spectacular YJA MS Amlin Yachtsman of the Year and YJA MS Amlin Young Sailor of the Year 2019 Awards and Gala dinner.

The YJA MS Amlin Yachtsman of the Year and the YJA MS Amlin Young Sailor of the Year Awards were presented during a Gala Dinner at the Grand Café Southampton on September 13th, following on from Press Day at the Southampton International Boat Show. The event drew together the great and the good of the marine world, distinguished guests and many previous winners of the awards.

The main award of the evening was the 2019 YJA MS Amlin Yachtsman of the Year. In 2018 the vote was split between two great sailors from different generations – Tracy Edwards and Nikki Henderson – the first time this has happened in history. This year the winner was Lucy MacGregor from Poole in Dorset, after winning the Women’s Match Racing World Championship for the fourth time, with her victory at the Lysekil Women’s Match in Sweden, in August. ‘Team Mac’ took the final 3-0 against French skipper Claire Leroy.

Lucy said: “I don’t know if I ever thought I would win one world championship, let alone four, so it’s pretty special, but it certainly wasn’t just me. There are other girls on my teams who have been a part of those world championships, and I have been very lucky to have come through with a generation of fantastic female sailors, and so a huge thanks to them also. Being awarded this trophy is such an amazing honour, the names on it are some of my heroes, so this is really quite incredible.”

The 2019 YJA MS Amlin Young Sailor of the Year winner was 17 year old Matilda Nicholls from Durley in Southampton. She won the Laser Radial Youth World Championships in Canada this year, while winning the UK national youth title. Unfortunately, but unsurprisingly, given her passion for sailing, Matilda was away training on Lake Garda in Italy, so her father Ben came up to the stage and accepted the award on her behalf.

Matilda said: “Wow what a crazy summer I’ve had and to finish it off as YJA Young Sailor of the Year is honestly just so cool!!! MASSIVE thank you first of all to my amazing parents who love and support me through the bad and the great times I’ve had training and racing this year. Also big thank you to my sponsors, and of course thank you to Andrew Simpson Watersports Centres, British Youth Sailing and Talented Athlete Scholarship Scheme (TASS) for helping me put all the hard work in over the past few year.”

The evening started with drinks in the Grand Lobby, followed by the 160 guests being invited through to the Grand Café to enjoy a sumptuous meal, leading into the awards themselves. Guest presenter for the evening was triple round the world yachtsman and the star of Channel 4’s ‘The Mutiny’ Conrad Humphreys, with the 2018 winners invited to the stage to present the main awards.

The MS Amlin Seamanship Award was presented by 2018 winner Sean Rose. The trophy, previously awarded for acts of seamanship in the Round the Island Race, has been extended worldwide in 2019, this year being presented to Roy Disney, the owner of Pyewacket, who rescued the team on John Sangmeister’s Santa Cruz 70 OEX during July’s Transpac 50 Race after they were forced to abandon ship due to water ingress from damage to their rudder post.

Roy Disney, who travelled over especially for the evening said: “Offshore sailing is a lonely sport ultimately. People see you at the start and the finish and they don’t see what happens in the middle. This event and these awards make people aware beyond the sailors themselves, which is important. It’s critically important that we all watch out for each other and we all know in the back of our heads that things like that can happen. We didn’t give what we did in the situation a second thought, and I’m sure that if it was the other way around, that boat and team would have done the same for us. When we go out to sea, we want to have that thought in the front of our head.”

YJA Chairman, Clifford Webb, said of the evening: “It’s been a wonderful event and marvellous to see past winners, key members of the marine industry, and YJA members. The main trophy is regarded as being THE one to win in boating worldwide, and the list of names who have won this are like a ‘who’s who’ of the sport.”

MS Amlin’s Paul Knox-Johnston, who was instrumental in the organisation of the evening, said: “It’s been a fantastic occasion, we’ve seen so many famous names of the yachting world in one room. A superb awards ceremony with entertaining and enlightening speeches, a great atmosphere throughout – what has there been not to like about the evening? I’m hoping this can continue for many years to come.”

Nominees videos here:

Find out more about the Yachting Journalists’ Association via https://yja.world/.