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Over 1.200 sailors from 65 countries are in Palma de Mallorca to compete in the 46th edition of the Trofeo Princesa Sofia IBEROSTAR. This international regatta has become a regular feature for worldwide sailors who will race in the 10 Olympic events, the Formula Kite, the Dragon and the 2.4 Paralympic class, from the 28th of March until de 4th of April in the beautiful bay of Palma.

New Zealand’s largest single-class regatta, the 2015 Toyota Optimist National Championships, starts at Worser Bay on Easter Friday. Over 200 sailors from four countries will compete in 14 races over five days of racing. Familes will be bringing dinghies from as far away as the Bay of Islands in the north and Dunedin in the south. Others have chartered boats from our sponsors, SailOne and Force Racing.

After spending the New Zealand summer training, preparing and competing domestically the NZL Sailing Team are Europe-bound getting ready for some northern hemisphere competition.

Here’s a look at the up-coming sailing related events around the country for the next couple of weeks. See the YNZ on-line calendar for full details of these events and those on beyond that. Are you organising an event but don’t see it listed here? Don’t miss out on some free promotion for your sailing events by adding them to the YNZ on-line calendar here.

From the blessing of the site, the opening of the Race Village, MAPFRE’s winning of Leg 4, The New Zealand Herald In-Port Race, Cyclone Pam, the delayed departure of the fleet and the breakdown and handover of the Race Village, it’s been eventful, it’s been fun, it’s been engaging, it’s been diverse and it’ll be back in 2018.

Vanuatu has just experienced the worst cyclone in its history with wind gusts in excess of 340km per hour during cyclone Pam’s peak and the Vanuatu Sailing Association (VSA) has contacted Yachting New Zealand with the following appeal for help.

Registrations are open for the 2015/16 Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron Lion Foundation Youth Training Programme.

31 Teams are entered to compete in the 2015 Secondary Schools Team Sailing National Championship on from 13 – 18 April hosted by the Lake Taupo Yacht Club.

World Class sailors from Denmark, Great Britain, South Africa, United States, Australia and Germany will be in Port Elizabeth from 23 March to 3 April to sail in the 60th SAP 5O5 World Championships being hosted by the Algoa Bay Yacht Club (ABYC).

THE 2015 Jack Tar Auckland Regatta got off to a boisterous start with powerful tides making for lumpy conditions as 68 yachts in nine divisions competed for the honours in the city’s biggest keelboat event.

The 2015 12' skiff NZ Champs were held during the Mighty River Power regatta on Lake Taupo. Thirteen skiffs faced the starter in light big rig conditions on Saturday and the Race Officer wisely ran five races in case Cyclone Pam turned up to play on Sunday.

Expressions of interest are sought from Auckland based Clubs who have interest to host the 2016 420 Nationals.

Entries for the 2015 Jack Tar Auckland Regatta are still growing. Adding interest and pace to the event, the speed machines in the 8.5 Multihulls will also be competing for their national title, along with the Farr 1020 division who are doing their nationals. Organisers are delighted at the quality of the fleets and will be finalising divisions once entries close.

420 Nationals concluded at Naval Point 15th March, Lyttelton with WBC/MBSC pair Henry Haslett/Jeremy Mitchell closing their National Regatta win not having to attend the last race 12.

David Abercrombie, Yachting New Zealand Chief Executive, advises that Application for resource consent, submitted to Auckland Council by the Harbour Access Trust has now been officially notified to the public.

The 2015 49er and 49erFX skiff National Championships were recently hosted by the Royal Akarana Yacht Club. Given New Zealand is a world leader in both these classes, and the fact that the event attracted some top international talent from Brazil, the 2015 regatta was the most hotly contest in recent memory.

Here’s a look at the up-coming sailing related events around the country for the next couple of weeks. See the YNZ on-line calendar for full details of these events and those on beyond that.

Many are calling this year’s regatta the toughest in the 30 year history of running the OKI 24hr race. With winds consistently 20 to 30 knots throughout the entire 24 hours and squally rain showers in the middle of the night, there were a number of masts broken and sails ripped – making this year’s event one for the history books.

The NZ Sailing Trust has spaces available for paying guests to join Steinlager 2 for the Auckland to Tauranga Race in April, and Lion New Zealand to view the Volvo Ocean Race in-port race this Saturday…

Another busy month has come and gone. The beginning of 2015 is flying by! Since returning from Miami in early February, I have been back into my NZ summer training routine that has included lots of sailing and fitness work. The conditions have been ideal to work on some areas that were identified from racing in Miami, and it has been awesome to see some gains there. Besides having all the other NZ Laser guys out to train with, I have also been fortunate to have a group of international sailors training with us off off Takapuna for the past month which has made training that much more intense and beneficial.

NZ Team Sailing Association is requiring umpires for the Secondary Schools Team Sailing National Championships, being held at Lake Taupo Yacht Club from Tuesday 14th to Saturday 18th April.

Command coaching and giving feedback

I have recently spent a bit of time observing different coaches around the country. One thing I saw a lot of was command coaching.

A fun and relaxed sailing regatta for girls only (eg no boys to compete with) in the Waitemata Harbour off Kohimarama Beach racing in Optimist, P-Class and Starling boats. An Optimist Green Fleet race course will be provided.

Coaching at the Monsoon Cup in Johor Malaysia

The Monsoon Cup is the final event on the World Match Racing Tour; it also has the largest prize purse in sailing 415,000USD. 

The 3.7 Class National Championship was held at the Bay of Islands Yacht Club, Waitangi with 23 entrants March 7-9.

Entries close 1700 hours 13th March

CIORC is Yachting New Zealand’s Cruising Inshore and Offshore Racing Committee. Formerly KORC, this new committee was formed a year ago, and has since been meeting regularly to discuss and further interests of both competitive and recreational sailors in keelboats, trailer yachts and multihull yachts.

The NZL Sailing Team and Southern Spars, World leaders in carbon spar design have formed a unique partnership, with the New Zealand marine industry heavy-weight helping out with a special request from Yachting New Zealand.

2015 Oceanbridge Sail Auckland was once again hosted by Royal Akarana Yacht Club gathering together all of New Zealand’s top Olympic and Paralympic campaigners, and the youth that wish to emulate them.

The 2015 NZ Women’s Keelboat championships will be held on the 28th & 29th March 2015 and will be run by the Royal NZ Yacht Squadron.

The Auckland Grammar team helmed by Sam Morgan win the 2015 Harken Schools Regatta. Sam and his team of Tommy Hayes, Alex Wotton and Alejo Redriera were the successful winners of the Gold Fleet with a total of two race wins and 16 points overall. In a nail bitter finish that saw the top 3 teams only separated by 1 point each, Auckland Grammar were the victors with a total of 16 points, Hutt International Boys School next on 17 points and third overall was St. Kentigern College on 18 points.

Panmure Lagoon Sailing Club has had yet another successful RSA Laser Regatta that saw 39 Laser sailors and their steeds from all over the World – Canada, Austria, Switzerland –as well as the North Island, Taipa, Onerahi, Hamilton and Lake Ngaroto come and do battle on this challenging spot of water in Auckland.