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Jo Aleh and Polly Powrie have been crowned 470 Women’s World Champions for the first time, the title coming exactly one year to the day since they won Olympic Gold. Paul Snow-Hansen and Dan Willcox have finished 7th in the Men’s Championship.

Sonar sailors David Barnes, Rick Dodson, Andrew May and John Weston are in Kinsale, Ireland, for the 2013 IFDS Combined World Championships to be sailed later this month. At a well attended send off function with supporters and friends on July 31st, the team confirmed their intentions to aim for the podium in Kinsale, kicking off their campaign for selection to the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games.

Jo Aleh and Polly Powrie are one step closer to claiming their first world title in the Olympic 470 class with just one day and one race remaining at the 2013 470 World Championships now coming to its conclusion in La Rochelle, France. Paul Snow-Hansen and Dan Willcox have scraped into the Men’s top eight and will be back on the race course tomorrow too.

The tables have turned after day four at the 2013 470 World Championships on now in La Rochelle, France with NZL Sailing Team’s Jo Aleh and Polly Powrie regaining the lead in the Women’s fleet, while Paul Snow-Hansen and Dan Willcox didn’t fair so well and have dropped to 11th in the Men’s Championship. All fleets sailed three races in 10-15 knot winds in La Rochelle today.

This week the seven sailors who make up the NZL Sailing Team with ETNZ have arrived in San Francisco to prepare for the 2013 Red Bull Youth America’s Cup.

Nacra17 multihull campaigners Jason Saunders and Gemma Jones report in on the recent Nacra17 World Championships, where they placed 9th and what’s on next… We are back in New Zealand again and recovering from a hard Europe trip and a bit of jet-lag! It’s been a successful trip and we are both very happy with how things panned out.

I have spent the past two weeks in Rio training here for the first time in the Laser. It is a venue that I will become as familiar with as possible over the next few years in the build-up to the 2016 Olympics.

Today’s conditions were a lot lighter than yesterday but impressively the race committee managed to put away 10 flights leaving 4 races to be completed in the round robin tomorrow. The day was packed with some fantastic racing and we even saw a match where one team was forced to tack going down wind with a spinnaker up which made for interesting discussions in the debrief.

Finals rounds got underway today at the 2013 470 World Championships with the La Rochelle venue testing sailors with more challenging conditions on day three of the six day long regatta. Paul Snow-Hansen and Dan Willcox (pictured) are now in 2nd place in the Men’s fleet; Jo Aleh and Polly Powrie are lying 6th in Women’s. Racing was in 8-14 knots of unstable breeze with strong tidal currents and a choppy sea.

Day two of the 2013 470 World Championships has drawn to a close with the qualifying rounds complete and both NZL Sailing Team crews are well placed as they carry forward their ranking to the finals rounds which kick off in La Rochelle, France tomorrow.

This drill splits the fleet in 2, with half starting on the “front row” and half in the “second row”. The drill highlights the importance of getting a good start on the line rather than behind the fleet, effectively on a different lower start line.

This drill can be set up for a group or for sailors by themselves. For this drill there are 4 marks and 4 boats. Have a rolling countdown, every minute there is a start. Boats must start as close to the mark, as though the mark was the Committee Boat and they wanted to win the right hand side of the start.

Infinity Racing are currently in Sweden, racing in the Lysekil Women’s Match, the final regatta of the Women’s International Match Racing Series. After a very impressive weigh in we had a day on the water to familiarise ourselves with the boats and our team.

On the eve of the 25th anniversary of the 1988 Bi-Centenary Around Australia Race (08/08/1988), Ocean Events is pleased to announce that the inaugural ‘Ocean Race Around Australia’ will go ahead in 2014. Ocean Events invites mono and multihull boats from Australia and around the world to join the inaugural ‘Ocean Race Around Australia’.

Ports of Auckland has signed up as the new naming rights sponsor for the Auckland Anniversary Day Regatta. “The Regatta, like the port, is as old as Auckland. The first Auckland Regatta was held on the day the city was founded in 1840, 11 years before the first America’s Cup race. We have a connection with the Regatta both through this history and the Waitematā harbour we share, which makes it the perfect event for us to support,” Chief Executive Tony Gibson said.

PIC Insurance Brokers takes Coastal Classic yacht race onboard An independent New Zealand insurance brokerage with strong connections to the marine industry is the Coastal Classic’s new major sponsor. The iconic race, which is recognised as one of the world’s ‘must do’ sailing events, will now be called the PIC Insurance Brokers Coastal Classic.

Jo Aleh and Polly Powrie have the early lead in the Women’s fleet at the 2013 470 World Championships while NZL Sailing Team team-mates Paul Snow-Hansen and Dan Willcox have also started strongly to hold 3rd in the Men’s.

Alan Williams has been the GBR Optimist National Coach for over 10 years. His Optimist Handbook is a great read and reference for any Optimist sailor, coach or parent. The book covers all abilities from Basic Rigging and Boat Handling to Strategy, Goal Setting and Nutrition.

Markus Somerville and Jack Simpson from Auckland’s Wakatere Boating Club have won silver at the 2013 29er class World Championships just finished at Arhus, Denmark. Twenty-five nations representing all continents sailed at the 2013 29er World Championships with 213 entries (426 sailors) in a highly competitive fleet. The 29er is a two-handed skiff which is a pre-cursor class to the Olympic 49er skiff sailed by Peter Burling and Blair Tuke.

New Zealand youth windsurfer Xanthe Bowater has finished top female and 6th overall in the Techno293Plus (open) fleet at the 2013 Techno 293 World Championships which has just wrapped up in Sopot, Poland.

After finishing a close second in the previous regatta, Mike Sanderson with his FMJ Racing crew of Matthew Steven and Ash Hammond (Auckland) ran away with their first title in the 2013 Elliott 5.9 Traveller Series - finishing a comfortable first overall in Stratis Icebreaker with four race wins from six heats.

New Zealand sailing’s Olympic gold medal girls Jo Aleh and Polly Powrie are one of four kiwi crews getting set to contest the 470 World Championships where racing kicks off at La Rochelle, France next Monday - August 5th. Head-lining the New Zealand men’s’ crews are NZL Sailing Team pair Paul Snow-Hansen and Daniel Willcox.

The Notice of Race is online and entries are now being accepted for ISAF Sailing World Cup Melbourne, the second regatta of the 2013-2014 ISAF Sailing World Cup series. The regatta will run out of the world acclaimed Sandringham Yacht Club in Melbourne Australia, from 1 to 8 December 2013.

Zhik is extremely pleased to have the opportunity to support the NZL Sailing Team in their quest to win the Youth America’s Cup. The team has been supplied with a full set of on water technical apparel to help them perform at their peak for the event which begins on 1 September in San Francisco.

The 59th Annual General Meeting of Yachting New Zealand will be held… Date: Saturday 19th October 2013 Venue: Bucklands Beach Yacht Club, 21 Ara Tai Drive, Half Moon Bay Marina, Auckland Starting: 10am

Amid the controversy of the AC72 America’s Cup and the small turnout for the 2013 event, one of the elements that stands out as a distinctly positive development is the youth event in the AC45s. With its clear nationality rules and the obvious appeal of opportunities for young sailors, this Red Bull-backed event provides a simple format with plenty of fleet-racing action close to the foreshore. It should prove a popular spectator drawcard

Postcards from Valencia - Final Day and Prizgiving, 420 Worlds.

Coach Jim Maloney updates from Arhus, Denmark where a team of young kiwis are competing at the 29er World Championships… First day of finals racing completed. Tough day at the office as they say.

This Race Coach Course will be held at NBYTRA on Friday 11th and Saturday 12th October. 11h October 5-9pm 12th October 9-5pm

Gemma Jones and Jason Saunders have delivered an encouraging top ten result at the first ever Nacra 17 World Championship ending the regatta in 9th place. Across eight races sailed the kiwis were in the top ten in five of those and if the final day had provided wind they were within reach of further improving their final placing.

Angus Haslett reports on the final day of the 2013 Optimist World Championships sailed last week at Lake Garda, Italy… The final day of racing has produced a mix of highs and lows. We were hoping for three races today but by mid morning it was evident we'd struggle for two. The race committee decided not to sail early which may have been a pity as a nice peler breeze stayed in until about 11am.