The top world teams get ready to battle for the Princesa Sofia trophy. Olympic medallists and Olympic and Continental champions will meet in the bay of Palma for one of the best Olympic classes events on the planet

The 34th America’s Cup Regatta in San Francisco delivered a range of direct and indirect benefits for the New Zealand economy, according to two evaluation reports released today.

The European season is about to get underway for the NZL Sailing Team with the start of racing at ISAF Sailing World Cup Palma scheduled for Monday next week. A team of 14 crews (including 21 sailors) will represent New Zealand in eight events at the up-coming ISAF Sailing World Cup Regatta which runs over six days on the Spanish island of Palma de Mallorca.

New Zealand’s premier one design class will embark on a battle of the best at the 2014 Harken Young 88 Nationals set to race 12th and 13th April.

The New Zealand Multihull Club Presents Kevin Peet as Guest Speaker on Tuesday 1st April at the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron. To be held in the Dinghy Locker at 7.30pm.

Limited spaces are still available for this coming season of the RNZYS Lion Foundation Youth Training Programme – so apply now! Further information and an application form are available online at www.rnzys.org.nz under Youth Programme or contact Sara Tucker stucker@rnzys.org.nz

For decades, Macleans College were a dominant force in College sailing, but in more recent years the school failed to field a team at all. Yesterday the Maclenas College team, who were 19th at last year’s nationals, won the gold fleet of the Auckland Teams Racing Regional Qualifier and the prestigious Auckland Cup.

What a regatta it has been for the Lion Foundation Youth Training Programme team onboard the XP-44 ‘Lawless’. The team sailed extremely well and at the end of the 3 day Jack Tar Auckland Regatta achieved 1st on IRC, 1st on PHRF, 1st on Regatta Handicap and 3rd on Line in Division B.

Summer tournament week is the week of Regional Teams Race Sailing ranking regattas for College sailing ahead of the April Holiday’s and Nationals. The first to get under way this week is the Auckland Cup Regatta. With a big increase in participation by Auckland Schools the Auckland Cup – Teams Racing Regatta, is now a two tiered event. The Gold fleet have completed the first day of Sailing from Bucklands Beach Yacht Club and it is a couple of lesser ranked sides that are the shining the stars.

Knowing the forecast was potentially bad the Flying Fifteen Nationals Race Management team, led by National Race Officer John Sinclaire and assistant Ian Clouston, entered into some intelligent negotiations with the sailors during the briefing on the first day of the regatta.