Sail Auckland 2001 Regatta (9 - 12 Feb)

by Virginia Stracey-Clitherow on 9 Feb 2001 Auckland: It will be a symphony of sails on Auckland Harbour this weekend as New
Zealand's best small-boat sailors come out in force for the annual Sail Auckland Regatta
(Friday 9 - Monday 12 February).
Part of the Australasian Sail DownUnder series, Sail Auckland is one of Auckland's
biggest international regattas for Olympic and non-Olympic dinghy, multihull and
keelboat classes.

Incorporating the Europe and 470 National Championships, Sail Auckland is New
Zealand's first major regatta for Olympic classes in the new Olympic cycle.

For those Olympic class sailors tipping their hats at Athens 2004, Sail Auckland is one
of the four 2001 Yachting New Zealand ranking regattas (Sail Melbourne, Sail Auckland,
National Champs, YNZ OlympicSail). At the end of the four regattas, the overall winners
of each class earn themselves funding to this year's major European summer regattas.

Sail Auckland will be the first opportunity for Yachting New Zealand's three newly
appointed high performance yachting coaches to evaluate the new wave of Olympic
class sailors.

The appointments of Peter Fox (single-handed), John Clinton (double-handed) and Bruce
Kendall (sailboards) were confirmed this week in the first of a series of Yachting New
Zealand initiatives to ensure NZ's competitiveness in Olympic and international dinghy
sailing.