Kristin Boeses appearance at the ISAF annual conference and the Rolex Sailor of the Year Awards

In combination with her nomination for the ISAF ROLEX World Sailor of the Year award KB4girls founder Kristin Boese had been invited to join the ISAF Womens Forum meeting, taking place during the annual ISAF conference, to introduce her project.

The presentation of the KB4girls program that supports females in the sport around the world was very well received by the ISAF Womens Forum and feedback as well as support were positive and sincerely given by the women.

Kristin Boese, founder of KB4girls says: “First of all it was amazing for me to see the great number of women that are actively involved in the ISAF and are doing such amazing work. To be invited to join the forum and to present KB4girls to them was very special to me and to be received so openly and warmly and to get such nice feedback from the women in the forum meant a lot to me and has furthered my motivation even more to keep pushing the program forward as hard as I can. I would like to especially thank Fiona Kidd, chairwomen of the forum, for her kind invitation and for being so supportive along the way.”

On November 9th, just 2 days after the womens forum met, Kristin Boese was presented together with 3 other female and 4 male nominees at the ISAF ROLEX World Sailor of the Year award at the stunning “Zappeion” in Athens/Greece.

Kristin Boese about the award ceremony: “This has certainly been one of the most special days in my life and the award ceremony was absolutely fabulous! I feel extremely honored to have been nominated for the ISAF ROLEX World Sailor of the Year Award especially since it was the first time a kiteboarder was amongst the nominees making it an honor for kiteboarding at the same time and proving that it has been fully accepted by the ISAF family. My congratulations and deepest respect go to Blanka and Tom.”

Being asked what her thoughts on kiteboarding as a part of sailing are, Boese says: “I think taking the amazing sport of sailing with its long history and traditions and to throw the very young sport of kiteboarding into the mix is a great and interesting step and I am very glad that the ISAF accepted kiteboarding as one of their sailboat classes almost 2 years ago. While kiteboarding and sailing might seem very different at first they really have so much in common and compliment each other in a way that can create even more excitement and diversity. I can only thank the ISAF for taking this step.”

Markus Schwendtner, Executive Secretary of the International Kiteboarding Association commented on Kristin’s appearance on this years ISAF conference and at the ISAF Rolex Sailor of the year award: “Kristin is a great ambassador for our sport and surely has convinced a lot of attendees from all over the world that Kiteboarding is a beautiful sport and surely has its place in the ISAF family. Her personality definitely made waves here and make people think, especially in respect of a future participation of Kiteboarding in the Olympic Games”. “All of the athletes who were nominated would have deserved to win and we congratulate all of them” he concluded.