We are now back home in New Zealand for a few weeks before we head back over to France for our World Championships which will take place in La Rochelle from the 5th of August. Our first trip of the year went rather well overall, we had some great racing as well as some rather cool sightseeing, so it was the perfect way to get back onto the circuit and clean out a bit of rust!!

Two New Zealand Nacra 17 crews including Jason Saunders and Gemma Jones, and Tomer Simhony and Nicole Van der Velden are counting down for the upcoming World Championships. Having just completed Kiel Week both crews and are en route to Den Haag, the Netherlands to set up for three weeks training before the Nacra 17 World Championships.

New controls have been introduced to stop damage to our marine environment from toxic paints used as protective coatings on ships and other vessels, the Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) announced today. Known as antifouling paints, they are applied to the hulls of vessels and to objects submerged in water to prevent aquatic organisms, or biofoul, from building up on the surface. They provide biosecurity protection from the introduction and transfer of indigenous and non-indigenous species in and around New Zealand waters as well as help to maintain a boat’s performance and integrity.

NZ Marine member companies Southern Spars, Warwick Yacht Design, Lloyd Stevenson Boatbuilders, Alloy Yachts and Yachting Developments have been recognised for their talents in two recent award ceremonies.

The ISAF XML Regatta Reporting format (ISAF XRR) is an XML-schema defined by the International Sailing Federation to provide a universal standard for the transfer of information allowing instant integration of results management systems with the ISAF results database.

Grant Innes of the Port Chalmers Yacht Club was named the 2013 Otago Yachting Administrator of the year and Jake and Ben Hawker of Macandrew Bay Yacht Club were the joint recipients of the 2013 Otago Yachtsperson of the Year award. The 2013 Otago Yachting Awards were presented in front of a capacity audience at the Otago Yacht Club on June 22nd.

Reuben Corbett (NZL) has won the ISAF Grade 2 Pärnu Sailing Week in Estonia, defeating Marek Stanczyk (POL) in the final.

The first ever Nacra 17 World Championships is set to bring the top Olympic multihull sailors to The Hague, Netherlands next month.

This is not your usual ‘boat for sale’ story. This is a story about two boats that are unique in Australia and present the perfect opportunity for a small club to get a keel-boat program up and going quickly and inexpensively. There are two Elliott 6s for sale. These boats were part of the Australian Sailing Team’s pre-2012 Olympic Games training program. They were used by Australian Silver Medal team for training and competition.

This Learn to Sail Coach Course will be held at Maraetai Sailing Club on Saturday 10th and Sunday 11thAugust. 10th August 9am - 4pm 11th August 9am - 3pm