The Rolex big boat series was established in the year 1964, the Series takes place every year on San Francisco Bay. It was in the year 2005 that Rolex became the title sponsor of the esteemed regatta. It mainly comprises of very competitive handicap racing and one design racing. The Rolex big boat series is widely recognised and known as one of the most coveted sailing events in U.S.A. This regatta mainly attracts boats as well as top competitors from U.S.A and abroad. The event will be held this year on 8th of September. Sailors all across the world keenly await this event every year.

Every year, the St. Francis Yacht Club holds its signature event- the Rolex Big Boat Series. It has been so since the year 1964. The series has kept pace with the evolution over the years. The series features handicap races under IRC and multiple numbers of one design in a period of four days. The St. Francis Yacht Club has hosted the championships like the US IRC National Championship and Melges 32 pre-worlds as part of the Rolex Big Boat Series which will be followed by Melges 32 Worlds. In the race that happened last year, the winners were final for many people in the last race of the series which is the traditional ‘Bay Tour’. Last year perfect score line of Dale Williams on wasabi clinched the title for him in the IRC-C.Another contender, Dark and Stormy was able to clinch the top division in the 1D35 division. Prior to that in the year 2009, Jim Mitchell who is the owner of the Custom 52 Vincitore won the Rolex Big Boat series in just a few seconds to spare. In Express 37 division last year it was Kame Richards who defended the title that he won in the year 2009. After a truly professional performance Kame Richards won the title that he truly deserved. In this year’s race the sailor will come back again to defend the title that he won very convincingly.

After the race last year, six of the Rolex Oyster Perpetual Stainless Steel Submariners were bestowed upon with the perpetual trophy divisions during the trophy ceremony of the Rolex Big Boat Series trophy. Last year Jim Mitchell was declared the winner under the IRC A class, St. Francis Perpetual Trophy. After the ceremony, Jim Mitchell stated that he was not aware that the trophy was original and was clearly taken aback when he held the priceless silver piece. The Vincitore was awarded the overall Rolex US-IRC National Champion as the top performing IRC boat that had Norman Davant as the tactician and Chris Dickson as the helmsman. Jim Mitchell was then presented with Rolex Yacht-Master timepiece for the special occasion. After the race, the winning crew seemed to be extremely proud and said that they will bring Vincitore back to the race this year and will work twice as hard to win the title again.

Tennis player Li Na will now be endorsing the famous Swiss Luxury watch manufacturer Rolex. Along with that she will endorse the famous ice-cream brand Haagen-Dazs. The world number 7 player seems to be cashing in with lucrative endorsement deals with the famous brands. Even after falling short in the Australian open early this year against Kim Clijsters, she seems to be doing just fine in bagging endorsements.For ice-cream maker Haagen-Dazs it is their first deal with an athlete for an endorsement. The Chinese player is rumoured to be paid around $1 million for the advertisement. As the ambassador for the famous Haagen-Dazs she will be featuring in print ads along with some PR activity for the product. As a part of the deal Li will be making visits in the stores throughout China and selected cities across the world. As for her deal with Rolex, she has not finalised it yet however, the financial aspect of the deal is far more lucrative and is prized millions of dollars. Li Na is also the only player who has reached the final round of the grand slam event.

Li Na hails from central China metropolis of Wuhan; she started playing tennis at a very young age of 8. Even though she could not perform what she was capable of at the recent tours, she holds an impressive resume. Between the year 1999 and 2004 Li recorded wins at 20 of the Women’s single title along with 19 International Tennis Federations (ITF) events. The most important win was that on the WTA tour, which was the first ever by a Chinese woman. Again in the year 2008, she bagged her 2nd WTA title after three and quarter years of drought. Li Na’s key playing skills include quick reflexes, quickness around the court and ground strokes that are very powerful, which she can place all over the court in a very unpredictable way which makes her a feared competitor. No wonder she landed with such a money-spinning deal with two of the most famous brands in the world.

Li is frequent in entering the double tournaments along with singles. She has won 16 events in the doubles category at the events of International Tennis Federations. Her success mainly came with her counterpart Li Ting in the doubles tournaments. Recently she has been forming temporary pairing with the players who she played with earlier and enjoyed a healthy rivalry with in the single tournaments that mainly includes Nicole Pratt, Jelena Janković, PengShua, Liu Nan-Nan and Yan Zi. Unfortunately in her career, she has underwent a lot of injuries that thwarted her from playing for long periods and preventing her from performing her best even after being capable of being on the number one rank. In her early 20s, she had to take a two year hiatus which made her lose very crucial months of her career because of an injury in the ankle. To add more to her woes she suffered another injury in the year 2007 in her ribs.

Rolex Farr 40 world championship on its third day sparked the event with Nerone’s winning leaders, Antonio Sodo Migliori and Massimo Mezzaroma (ITA) taking away applauds with just one point ahead of Transfusion whose crew member Guido Belgiorno-Nettis gushed out saying, “It doesn’t matter whether we are in front or behind,” adding, “As long as we have the consistency we can challenge Nerone. We will start afresh tomorrow and try to win the war and if they sail better than us then good luck to them, they are great competitors.” Indeed!

Nerone overshadowed the rest with a shortfall of two points and proudly took away the honorary title. Nerone’s fantastic tacticians recovered to three positions and reached the sixth rank and came down in eighth race successfully. Meanwhile, the superb champs of Transfusion, tentatively bagged the fifth position. Transfusion can pull it up well on the fourth day to take the prestigious Rolex Farr 40 World’s Championship home.

The victorious leaders of the game proved to be in excellent form that fuelled the pace for the teams. Goombay Smash(William Douglass), USA and James Spithill together, made strong waves with a smashing buckshot in the series of races seven and winning 6th rank in race eighth. Struntje Light faced a disqualification after race four faces lost and were shown the way out with smeared faces of disappointment.

The provisional results – Pending Protests: The list of Top ten Farr 40 World’s Champions-FEB 25 includes the likes of the best: The Highest ranked  Nerone , ITA, Antonio Sodo Migliori & Massimo Mezzaroma scored first rank with 2-1-10-8-1-1-6-1, 30 , Transfusion, AUS, Guido Belgiorno-Nettis second rank with 4-4-2-1-7-4-4-5, 31  ,  third rank title won by Flash Gordon, USA, Helmut & Evan Jahn with the score 11-2-9-2-8-5-11-3, 51  .  Fourth rank awarded to Barking Mad, USA, Jim Richardson with the score 15-10-5-9-2-3-10-2, 56 followed by 5th ranked Estate Master, AUS, Lisa & Martin Hill with the scores 1-8-1-5-9-10-12-12, 58  and the sixth title of honor rewarded to Kokomo, AUS, Lang Walker who scored well with 19-5-4-7-5-9-3-7, 59 .  The skillful champ Struntje Light, GER, Wolfgang & Angela Schaefer scored 3-13-3-21-4-13, 67  enjoyed the seventh position and eight rank bagged by Hooligan, AUS, Marcus Blackmore scored well as 13-3-6-4-16-14-8-4, 68 with that of Voodoo Chile, AUS, Andrew Hunn & Lloyd Clark  at ninth rank with 5-9-8-15-3-2-16-16, 74  and the proud winner completing the ten ranks is Goomsbay Smash, USA, William Douglass with the score 9-6-17-10-11-16-1-6, 76 who bagged the tenth title of Rolex Farr 40 World Championship. The names of the top players were in order of Place, the Boat Names, the Country and the Owner-Helm, R1-R2-R3-R4-R5-R6-R7-R8, in totality.

The defending champions of U.S SAILING’s Rolex Yachtsman and Yachtswoman of the Year Ceremony held in New York on 25th February 2011 Stan Honey and Anna Tunnicliffe have emerged as the leading winners of the evening.  The recipients of the award’s were announced earlier during January due to their incredible performance at U.S. SAILING. The commemoration brought together the families, associates & friends, the bigwigs of U.S. Sailing dignitaries as well as press in the Club’s Model Room. Thereafter, they treated themselves to the most renowned multi-media exposition of the respective path and direction in earning glory and fame in the sailing fraternity.

The erstwhile winners  of U.S. SAILING’s namely, JJ Fetter  in the year 1986 with the scores 91, ‘97, ‘00 and Bora Gulari  during the year 2009 launched Anna Tunnicliffe along with Honey; whilst the president of US SAILING and the event’s EMCEE for a long time , Gary Jobson displayed the videos of Anna Tunnicliffe and Stan Honey and let the audience enjoy the spirit of the event. This was followed by Anna Tunnicliffe and Stan Honey who received specially engraved stainless steel and platinum Rolex Oyster Perpetual Yacht-Masters, symbolic of their achievements in excellence from Rolex Watch U.S.A’s Vice President, Director of Communications Peter Nicholson.  Also in the audience were previous Rolex Yachtswomen of the Year Liz Baylis (2002), Sally Lindsay Honey (1973, ‘74) and Dawn Riley (1999).

Anna Tunicliffe is the first woman to have bagged the victory with a hatrick for three years together and was quoted as saying “There were so many great nominees on the list this year, that to be picked is a great honor”. She also added, “we had some great regattas this year, and we tried to come out of each one having learned at least one thing, so we could keep the fun factor involved and continue to pursue the dream of bringing home Olympic Gold in 2012.” Now that’s a true leader’s spirit that’s speaking volumes.

The event was established in the year 1961 by US SAILING as well as sponsored by the Rolex Watch, situated in U.S.A. since the 1980’s, with the annual presentation of US SAILING’s Rolex Yachtsman and Yachtswoman of the Year awards are the sport’s ultimate acknowledgment of an individual’s outstanding on-the-water achievements for the calendar year.  Over its history the coveted award has been presented to 39 men and 32 women.

Both Anna Tunnicliffe and Stan Honey have been players who have set records and beaten their own over the years of their respective careers and this recognition from Rolex not only comes at the right time but also serves to further boost the spirit of the players. The Rolex awards for US Sailing Yachtman and Yachtswoman of the Year are awards keenly awaited for on the sailing sports calendar, this is an annual event that fans not only look forward to but also serve as a marker of recognizing excellence in this sporting field.

Lindsey Van from Park City, Utah, who is also an ambassador for Rolex, is the number one world champion of ski jumping. On the 25th of February she will be competing in the World Ski Jumping Championships 2011 in Oslo Norway.In a training round on Midstubakken 106-meter jump at Holmenkollen the players of USA Women Ski Jumpers practiced for the event. In the event on Friday the defending American champion Lindsay Van will battle against her competitors to win the title again. Jerome stated that the winds on normal hill jump felt a little tricky on Wednesday. At 97.5 meters Lindsey had her longest ride for Americans while Jessica Jerome jumped solid with 96.5. Jessica Jerome stated that the wind points system was in the place so that the game could be fairer for the players.According to her the idea was very good and very helpful for all the players. She also said that the system was not perfect but they were all set to jump in any condition. Jessica Jerome along with her friends got to know about the weather and wind condition.

Jessica Jerome confidently stated that the training day was like any other day for her. Her jumps were not out of ordinary but she was confident and will work towards fixing her strategies as she goes for the next training session. A very young Sara Takanashi owned the day as she crossed the 100 meter mark on all the three jumps that she did which included two jumps that were 102.5 and helped her lead in all the three rounds. The championship on Friday will use a new protocol that will use wind measurement to adjust the scores. The system has been used in the Nordic combined jumping in the last few seasons will be used in this year’s championship for women. Another participant Alissa Johnson praised the atmosphere and said that she will be looking forward to the championship on Friday. She also said that the Nordic World Championship is all what is being talked about and that says a lot about what it is going to be like. Even the Homenkollen complex is abuzz with the preparations for the final event. Even though the snow and the cold is quiet heavy the spirit of the championship surpasses everything. The women participants will continue to train at the Midstubakken before the competition commences on Friday at 3 pm, Oslo time. The match will be commenced by Jerome, Van, Johnson, Abby Hughes, and Sarah Hendrickson from the U.S. When Lindsey Van was asked what her goals were for the world championship this year, she stated that she did not set any goal this time and is just aiming at jumping two consecutive jumps. She confidently stated that she did not feel a lot of pressure during the training as she has not put high expectations on herself to win the title this time as well.