Yachting New Zealand

🏆 Nominations are officially closed!

We’ve been delighted by the response to the call for entries for the 2026 Barfoot & Thompson Yachting Excellence Awards - a big thank you to everyone who took the time to nominate someone deserving of recognition. 💙

Our judging panel will now review all nominations and select this year’s award recipients.

We’d also like to thank our award sponsors and partners, whose generous support — including fantastic gifts for our recipients — helps us celebrate the people who make sailing in New Zealand so special:

Barfoot & Thompson
Orbit World Travel - New Zealand
NZL Sailing Foundation
B&G
Millennium Hotels and Resorts
PredictWind
Lawson's Dry Hills Wines
MAST Academy of New Zealand
Hesketh Henry
North Sails
AON NZ
Yamaha Motor New Zealand
Radix Nutrition Nutrition
Appliances Online New Zealand
Kiwi Yachting

👀 Watch this space!

🏆 New format for Secondary Schools Teams Sailing in 2027⛵

New Zealand’s premier secondary schools team sailing event is expanding in 2027, with separate National Championship and National Development Cup regattas.

The new format will:
🔹 Keep a high-performance pathway for the country’s best school teams
🔹 Give developing teams more opportunities to compete at national level
🔹 Allow composite teams to compete in the Development Cup
🔹 Give schools with enough depth the chance to enter a second, development team
🔹 Recognise both Open and All-Female teams at both levels

The 2027 nationals will be hosted by Naval Point Club Lyttelton during the April school holidays.

Read the full story for all the details on the new format and what it means for schools and sailors 👉 https://www.yachtingnz.org.nz/news/secondary-schools-teams-sailing-nationals-expand-new-championship-and-cup-format-2027

New Zealand Team Sailing Association

🌎🏆 BACK-TO-BACK WORLD CHAMPION!

New Zealand’s Hugo Wigglesworth has done it again, successfully defending his Hydrofoil Big Air world title in spectacular fashion in Sylt, Germany.

The 19-year-old Kiwi held his nerve in a fiercely contested final, producing two scores in the 9s to claim a clutch victory and add a second straight world crown to his growing collection of accolades. ✈️

Read more 👉 https://www.yachtingnz.org.nz/news/new-zealand-kitefoiler-hugo-wigglesworth-goes-back-back-hydrofoil-big-air-world-champion

📸 Lukas K Stiller

Kitesurf World Cup Germany
GKA Kite World Tour

🏆 Nominations close at 5pm today!

There’s still time to recognise the people, performances and contributions making a difference across New Zealand sailing.

Nominations for the 2026 Barfoot & Thompson Yachting Excellence Awards close at 5pm today.

Don’t miss your chance to shine a light on someone deserving. 🙌

Get your nominations in now! 👉 https://www.yachtingnz.org.nz/2026-barfoot-thompson-yachting-excellence-awards-nominations

⏰ ONLY TWO DAYS LEFT!

Time is running out to enter the 2026 Barfoot & Thompson Yachting Excellence Awards.

Know a sailor, coach, official, club, volunteer or organisation that deserves recognition? Now’s the time to nominate them. 🏆

Entries close Monday, 31 August.

Don’t miss your chance to celebrate the people and achievements making a difference across New Zealand sailing.

Get your nomination in today 👉 https://www.yachtingnz.org.nz/2026-barfoot-thompson-yachting-excellence-awards

⏰ 3 DAYS LEFT!

There are just three days remaining to get your nominations in for the 2026 Barfoot & Thompson Yachting Excellence Awards.

Help us recognise the outstanding people, performances and contributions making a difference across sailing and boating in the country.

🏆 Nominations close this Monday, 31 August.

Nominate now👉 https://www.yachtingnz.org.nz/2026-barfoot-thompson-yachting-excellence-awards-nominations

⏰ 4 DAYS LEFT… AND COUNTING!

There’s still time to recognise the people, performances and achievements that have made a difference to sailing in New Zealand this year.

Nominations for the 2026 Barfoot & Thompson Yachting Excellence Awards close Monday 31 August.

If there’s a sailor, coach, official, volunteer, club, programme or achievement that deserves recognition, get your nomination in now!

Nominate before the deadline 👉 https://www.yachtingnz.org.nz/2026-barfoot-thompson-yachting-excellence-awards

⛵️ Cut from a different cloth: The story behind Phoebe Willis’ sailing-inspired showstopper at New Zealand Fashion Week
👉 go.livesaildie.com/fashion

New Zealand Fashion Week
NZ Starling Class Association

Just 5 days left to have your say — nominations for the 2026 Barfoot & Thompson Yachting Excellence Awards close this Monday, 31 August! 🏆⛵

Know a sailor, coach, volunteer, club or official who's gone above and beyond this season? Now's the time to recognise them.

Don't let their hard work go unnoticed — submit your nomination before time runs out.👉 https://www.yachtingnz.org.nz/2026-barfoot-thompson-yachting-excellence-awards

🤩💙

𝗪𝗵𝗲𝗻 𝘁𝘄𝗼 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗹𝗱𝘀 𝗰𝗼𝗹𝗹𝗶𝗱𝗲.
Congratulations to MBSC member Phoebe Willis, on gaining a Highly Commended Award at New Zealand Fashion Week for her Starling-inspired outfit. It featured a Fibreglass corset tied with Dyneema, a skirt made from a Starling sail, and was accessorised with sailing-inspired jewellery.

It just shows that sailing is about so much more than being out on the water, and can inspire creativity as well as competition in other areas of life too.

Doyle Sails