The course was tight with rocks, current and gusts coming off the city turning the racing into a game of snakes and ladders at times. Two wild card teams joined the regatta and both will be competing in the Red Bull Youth America's Cup. The teams were the Swiss and the local team from Portugal. It was exciting to line up against two of the teams we will be racing in September!

Another stunning morning greeted us in Lake Garda - bright sun and a warm 28degrees with the Peler breeze - quite strong (which is not that good for the afternoon Ora breeze as it has to work harder to push the Peler breeze away). The team starts each day at 8 with a light fitness session then after breakfast are all down at the club by 10.00am to set up their boats.

Yachting New Zealand President Jan Dawson was last night named the winner of the Excellence in Sports Governance Award at the inaugural Women in Governance Awards Ceremony held at the Villa Maria Estate in Auckland.

New Zealand has won gold and bronze and placed 3rd in the Nations Trophy at the 2013 ISAF Youth Sailing World Championships just finished in Cyprus. All five kiwi crews finished in the top six making it an excellent year for the NZL Yachting Trust Youth Team at this pinnacle youth regatta.

With racing now underway New Zealanders are glued to the spectacle of Emirates Team New Zealand’s AC72 competing in San Francisco for the Louis Vuitton Cup, but there’s a group of seven young men who are paying close attention. They are the NZL Sailing Team with ETNZ and in six weeks time it will be their turn to take to the stunning San Francisco Bay for the Red Bull Youth America’s Cup and race the fast, exciting AC45 catamarans on the same race track that their senior counterparts are competing on now.

Day two of the Optimist World Champs has had a mix of highs and lows. The wind ran pretty much to forecast with a shifty and slight Ora breeze of 12 knots lasting for most of the first race of the day, it was a race where mother nature played her part and despite all of the kiwis starting well and rounding the top mark in a good position in each of their respective flights (there are four flights), only Leonard Takahashi-Fry managed a top ten placing. The rest of the team lost ground on their downwind and final upwinds as the shifts became even more variable.

Emirates Team New Zealand collected another round robin point at San Francisco today. Five points from five starts – four races not being contested – and Emirates Team New Zealand - is at the top of leaderboard with five points, with Luna Rossa on two and Artemis zero.

New Zealand’s new blue-water sailing event - the A2B Ocean Race is attracting a range of yachts and crews for its inaugural race which sets sail from Auckland’s Waitemata Harbour on Sunday, 9 February 2014. One of the interesting entries received to date is that of Iemanja, whose crew will feature three generations from one family for the ocean race from Auckland to Bluff.

The Finn European Championship returns to Warnemünde, Germany for this third time in the event's history this weekend as the 2013 Open and Junior Finn European Championship gets under way on Friday 19 July. It has attracted a huge entry from across the world.

With one day to go New Zealand is assured of a gold medal at the 2013 Sail First ISAF Youth Sailing World Championships now drawing to a close in Cyprus with Isaac McHardie (Hamilton Yacht Club/RAYC) and Micah Wilkinson (Ngaroto Sailing Club/RAYC) now unbeatable in the SL16 multihull. Across the other four classes where the 2013 NZL Yachting Trust Youth Team feature, our sailors remain in the top seven places with Markus Somerville and Jack Simpson (Wakatere Boating Club) now in 2nd place and eyeing a podium finish in the 29er skiff. Just one day remains with only one race on the schedule to determine the final placings.