Subaru-sponsored Tornado class sailors Darren Bundock and John Forbes have again received Australia's highest sailing accolade, named "Male Sailors of the Year."The pair were honoured at the prestigious Australian Yachting Awards, held at the Royal Melbourne Yacht Squadron.

It is the second time in a row the pair has received the award.

They were named both the "Australian Institute of Sport Team of the Year" and "NSW Sailors of the Year" earlier this year, and are proving to be long-term masters of the Tornado class.

Their main credential for receiving the awards was winning the 2002 Tornado Class World Championship for a record fifth time for Forbes and third time for Bundock, as well as being equal first at the 2002 Athens Test Event and clean sweeping the 2003 Sail Melbourne Regatta.

John collected the honour on behalf of the team, as Darren is currently overseas sailing with fellow Male Sailor of the Year finalist, Victoria's Glenn Ashby.

John, who is the first Australian to win the "Sailor of the Year" award for the third time (92, 01, 02) gave praise to Darren, his team mate of eight years, and said they still have what it takes to win a Gold Medal in Athens 2004.

They have won the last two World Championships and recently won the 2003 European Championship in Sardinia, Italy with a race to spare.

Forbes also praised his coach of 13 years Mike "Fletch" Fletcher who has become an integral part of the teams boat speed success.

Forbes added "This award is very special to us, not only because I am the first person to have won it three times, but to be recognised by the AYF and the Australian Sports Commission for over 15 years has given me a great sense of happiness from my sport and we will be trying our absolute best to complete my medal collection in Athens 2004."

Forbes already has a Bronze medal from the 1992 Barcelona Olympics as well as the Silver medal he and Darren won in Sydney 2000.

Approximately 200 guests attended the Awards at the St. Kilda venue, to recognise the achievements of Australian sailing over the last 12 months.

The finalists in each category read like the who's who of Australian sailing, with world, national and state champions being presented awards by sponsors of Yachting Australia and the Federal Minister for the Arts and Sport, the Honorable Rod Kemp.