Cruising competition: Gudrun Calligaro Prize: new award for female skippers

In a competition to find the most appropriate name for the new women's sailing prize, the name of the first and only German Schlimbach prizewinner came out on top. Several entrants had suggested Gudrun Calligaro. In the end, the winner of the first prize of the Naming contest - a sailing training programme for women. The handover is to take place at boot in Düsseldorf.

Honouring a German sailing pioneer

The Cruiser department recognised Calligaro as an inspirational sailor in her announcement:

Gudrun Calligaro was literally born into sailing. She has been sailing since the age of seven, initially on a reservoir in Stuttgart. She expanded her radius to include the North Sea and Baltic Sea, the IJsselmeer, the Mediterranean and the English Channel. Calligaro volunteers as a skipper in youth training programmes and also skippered women's cruises on the Baltic Sea. She came to blue water sailing in the early 1980s.

The courageous sailor finally fulfils her dream and becomes the first German to sail around the world alone. With her boat "Mädchen", a Dufour Arpège series yacht just 9.25 metres long, she covered 31,834 nautical miles in 338 days. She has been honoured many times for this pioneering achievement: she received the Trans-Ocean Prize and the Trans-Ocean Medal, the Schlimbach Prize, at the time the crown of ocean sailors, as well as the Award of Merit from the British Ocean Cruising Club. And now this inspiring woman is lending her name to an award for the best voyage led by a female skipper."

Award aims to make women visible

Gudrun Calligaro passed away in 2017 at the age of 69. With the prize named after her According to KA, the aim is to "make women visible in the sport of sailing. To motivate them to take the helm themselves. Attract more female participants to the cruising competition". The challenge prize for the best voyage led by a female skipper - the composition of the crew is irrelevant - will be awarded for the first time at the upcoming cruising competition.