Sail Auckland Inc was established in 1996 at the request of our national sailing body, Yachting New Zealand, to host and run an International Olympic and Invited Classes Regatta to help promote Olympic Class racing in New Zealand. During the first few years Sail Auckland was hosted jointly by the Bucklands Beach Yacht Club and the Kohimarama Yacht Club. For the next few years the eventwas hosted by the Kohimarama Yacht Club and in 2011 Takapuna Boating Club was the host club. 2012 will see the Royal Akarana Yacht Club at the helm.

By inviting international sailors to compete here Sail Auckland can give our aspiring Olympic and Paralympics sailors the opportunity to compete locally without the expense of travelling overseas for essential international competition.

 Other than the Anniversary Day Regatta (which is a one day regatta), Sail Auckland is the largest Sailing Regatta held on the Waitamata Harbour and extends over a period of four days for the Senior regatta and then the Junior regatta is held over the following Saturday and Sunday. Our 2008 regatta, held prior to the 2008 Olympics, had 308 sailors in the senior event including 147 New Zealand sailors some of whom are classified as youth. The junior regatta had over 250 youth sailors competing.

Sail Auckland’s main objective is to foster and promote Olympic Class sailing and assist our Olympic sailors achieve medals at the Olympic Games and World Championship level. To this end, in 2006 Sail Auckland was granted ISAF Grade 1 status, by the International Sailing Federation.

There are only 5 non-world championship Olympic Grade 1 Class Regattas held in the world each year and they are extremely important for sailors to keep up their rankings.

Additionally Sail Auckland’s objectives have always been to foster sportsmanship within the International Olympic Yachting community and our Regatta has always been well patronised by international sailors who just love visiting New Zealand, especially for the great sailing and the famous kiwi hospitality.