Skippers Blythe Walker, Katrina Williams and Joshua Greenslade were the big winners during Bermuda Sailing Association's (BSA) inaugural awards ceremony hosted earlier this week by Bacardi Limited.

Walker was chosen by a BSA Board of Governors as 2006 Male Sailor of the Year for an outstanding performance during last October's King Edward VII Gold in which he became the first local skipper since Peter Bromby to win the Petite Final competing against top ranked match racing sailors from around the world.

"2006 was actually supposed to be my year off from sailing with a house renovation and second child," Walker told those gathered at the awards ceremony.

"Nevertheless, I couldn't hold back from competing in the match racing." The son of legendary IOD skipper Jordy Walker, Blythe appears to be doing a fine job carrying on the family's sailing legacy, winning both the Anna-Roed Bell IOD Match Racing and Bacardi Nationals prior to last October's superb run in the Gold Cup.

Walker is also a former Olympian, having represented Bermuda in the 1982 Games in the 470 Class.

Williams was named Female Sailor of the Year following a string of highly impressive finishes last summer competing on the international scene.

The Old Dominion University student placed 15th last August in the 2006 Cork Regatta in Ontario competing in the Laser Radial in a fleet of 167 boats. She also placed sixth ICSA College Single Handed Championships last fall.

Greenslade, one of the Island's top future sailing hopefuls, was a straightforward choice for the 2006 Youth Sailor of the Year Award following a dominant summer in the Optimist fleet.

The promising young skipper won nearly every youth regatta he entered last summer and managed to hold his own competing abroad in larger regattas.

The Saltus Grammar School student also became the Bermudian to win the XL Regatta competing against 42 local and international junior sailors, and placed in the top ten competing in regattas in Uruguay, Denmark and the USA to cap off a memorable summer of racing.