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The Opua Cruising Club was one of many Clubs around the country to open their doors on Sunday 16th February for the Volvo National Sailing & Boating Day.

The NZL Sailing Team had two sailors on the podium of the 2014 A Class World Championships which has just wrapped up off Takapuna Boating Club in Auckland after five days of racing.

The stars of the fleet shone again on the world of A Class sailors today in race seven and eight of the 2014 A Class Catamaran World Championships.

Welcome to the Elliott 5.9 Class Update for February 2014. Quite a short update this month, with some information about the Kawau weekend (which is shaping up to be huge!) and some indicative dates and venues for the 2014 Traveller Series.

Race Five and Six were sailed today in the heaviest conditions of the regatta thus far, the wind prior to the first race was gusting to 18.3 so the race committee waited for several big puffs to pass through before starting.

The Lake Mahinapua Aquatic Club is gearing up to take part in the National Volvo Sailing and Boating Day this Sunday. It follows the club’s successful annual regatta two weeks ago. The day is a celebration of sailing and boating and clubs from all over New Zealand are taking part.

It all started in a distant land renowned for it’s sand and desert, rather than for it’s water, and ended up with a coincidence that still makes me think how very small the world really is. In 1978, I was working in Jubail, on the north-east coast of Saudi Arabia. A real experience, but at times quite boring with not many of the usual “outlets” that we’re all used to enjoying at home.

The 2014 A Class worlds kicked off on Monday with the practice race, the event drawing a record fleet of eighty one entries from twelve nations.

Day Two of the A Class World Championships started in more wind than predicted, and certainly more than expected; today the breeze averaged 13 knots with puffs into the seventeens.

The final count-down is on to the first ever Volvo National Sailing & Boating Day. Sailing and boating Clubs across New Zealand, from Northland to Bluff, are gearing up for Sunday’s celebration of sailing and boating.

The 2014 SSANZ Two Handed Round North Island Race (RNI) supported by NZL Yachting Trust got away to a perfect start at 2pm on Saturday 8th February. Sun was shining, 15-20knots of breeze and an easy lay up the coast. As the team on Wedgetail put it during their first radio sked "20 kt reach and sunshine. Exactly what was in the brochure” Crew’s were kept busy with sail changes between jib’s, code zero’s and gennakers and the boats were making good speed up the coast.

Results from the 2014 Finn National Championship held at Maraetai Sailing Club in February.

Results for 2014 New Zealand Zephyr National Championship held at Naval Point Club Lyttelton in February.

Yachting New Zealand and Zhik have formally teamed up to give New Zealand’s best sailors access to world class technical wet gear and clothing. Zhik, the Australian based watersports brand, will be supplying the NZL Sailing team athletes and coaches with on water gear and shore uniform through until Rio 2016 as Yachting New Zealand’s Official Technical Clothing Partner

The Finn class is pleased to announce that it has launched a new website after successfully porting its existing site onto a new platform and to a new server. The address remains, as always, www.finnclass.org. The whole site has been reworked onto the new platform and should be faster, more reliable and more secure.

It was great to be joined by an additional group of foreigners’ straight after our Nationals finished, to up the quality and intensity of our training and summer racing even more. Joining our local talent, the Duchies and Omanis who were already here, were sailors from Australia, Sweden, Ireland, Norway, Singapore and Korea. It has given us some competitive racing both in training, at Oceanbridge Sail Auckland and during the OKI 24 Hour Race this past weekend.

The 2014 OKI 24-hr Race results are in, with Andy Maloney and Nicholas Heiner coming through on the winning boat, sailing for Mansons TCLM Ltd with 118 laps - almost as many as Chris Dickson's 120 lap record.

At the recent 2014 Sunburst Nationals held in January at the Wakatere Boating Club in Devonport, the class concurrently held a weekend celebrating the 50 years since the first boat was launched.

Simon Hull, proud owner of the record breaking giant red Orma 60’ trimaran flying machine “Vodafone,” has set his sights on winning one of the few remaining race records for NZ Coastal Yacht racing that he does not have his name on yet, the International Paints, Auckland to Tauranga Yacht Race to be held on Thursday 17th April, just prior to Easter.

For the second consecutive year, a representative of the host club, the Royal Sydney Yacht Squadron, has won the prestigious Hardy Cup Under 25, ISAF Grade 3 match racing event on Sydney Harbour.

Over the weekend, the OK Dinghy class took part in Oceanbridge Sail Auckland 2014, New Zealand’s premiere dinghy racing event and a Grade one ISAF fixture. With 33 boats entered the OKs were the largest fleet at the event and as such enjoyed prime position for their boats directly in front of the RAYC clubhouse. A great showcase for the OK fleet, and a chance for the yachting world to see grassroots sailing at its very best alongside the Olympic classes. With the whole OK fleet working hard on their sailing, and 10 having recently competed in the OK Interdominions in Melbourne, the standard of racing right through the fleet was higher than ever, with torrid action on the water and great camaraderie off it.

The message is out. The yacht clubs are poised. The nation is ready to get involved in the first ever Volvo National Sailing and Boating Day. The push to entice more boaties onto New Zealand waters is set to unfold on February 16, with smaller yacht clubs also gearing up to make the most of the nationwide momentum.

The message is out. The yacht clubs are poised. The nation is ready to get involved in the first ever Volvo National Sailing and Boating Day.

The Trofeo SAR Princesa Sofia Mapfre celebrates its 45th edition this year. The biggest sailing event in Spain will be held in waters of the bay of Palma from 29th March to 5th April with the debut of a whole new Spanish pre-Olympic team, presented some weeks ago, on their way to Rio 2016.

Many of us will need to buy or sell equipment, but it is usually complicated to sell or buy second hand sailing/surfing equipment, or to find the best advertising platform. One option is to post handwritten adverts on official notice boards at clubs or when at regattas, but the audience is very limited.

Richard Sutherland-Smith, Sailing Master at Wanganui Collegiate School is looking to open up communication with anyone interested in the RS Feva in New Zealand, and has launched a google group.

At Oceanbridge Sail Auckland 2014, six sailors were classified by New Zealand’s new classifier, Helen McKenzie and assisted by International Classifier Stephen Wilson of Australia.

A strong Emirates Team New Zealand connection will be evident when the World A Class Catamaran championships is raced off Takapuna Beach, Auckland.

Yachting New Zealand is looking to appoint a new Coach Development Manager. We did not appoint anyone after the initial application period and are now accepting applications for this position.

On the 26th of April this year we will celebrate this event, and the 7 others that followed through to 1984, with an afternoon gathering at the OYC Clubrooms at Onerahi. There will be lots of clippings and photos, memories and memorabilia, gossip and nostalgia. Did you, or someone you know, participate in any of these great races?