Entries have opened for the 2026 Sir Peter Blake Torbay Regatta, and sailors from across the country and beyond are expected to descend on Waiake Beach on Auckland's North Shore for the first weekend of December.
Hosted by Torbay Sailing Club, the regatta has grown into the largest mixed centreboard youth regatta in the Southern Hemisphere. Next year's event, set for 5 and 6 December, will be its 24th edition.
Last December, 352 sailors raced 327 boats across 15 fleets, representing 32 clubs from as far afield as the Bay of Islands, Dunedin, Singapore and New Caledonia. Four separate race courses were needed just to fit everyone in, backed by 35 official boats and roughly 40 coach and support craft on the water.
More than 150 volunteers, split evenly between water and shore duties, kept the regatta running, and somewhere along the way got through more than 1,200 sausages, 40 kilograms of bacon and 2,100 slices of bread.
Classes span the full length of the development pathway. Optimist Green Fleet sailors, many on their first ever start line, share the water with sailors in ILCA, 29er, RS Feva, 420 and iQFOiL, some of whom are genuine Olympic and America's Cup prospects. Torbay Sailing Club's Regatta Director, David Wright, credits the event's staying power to simple consistency: same dates, same venue, same format every year.
What really sets "The Blake" apart from other youth series is its attitude towards results. Sportsmanship and fair play are rewarded alongside the podium medals, including recognition for sailors who honestly take their own penalty turns. Race marks for the Green and White fleets are inflatable flamingos, unicorns and a peacock rather than standard buoys. It is deliberately not a ranking regatta; the idea is to make it a fun festival of sailing, to experience the pure joy of competing, and to compete for the fun of it.
The regatta's top prize, the Sir Peter Blake Trophy, rewards leadership and attitude as much as outright speed. Past winners include Olympic medallists Jo Aleh, Peter Burling and Sam Meech. In 2025, the trophy went to 29er pairing Nelsen Meacham and Louis Quere, whose composed, error-free series and influence on the wider fleet reflected exactly what the award is meant to honour.
There's a physical connection to Sir Peter's legacy, too. Steinlager II, his Whitbread 1989-winning boat, was in the bay during the 2024 event, and his maxi yacht Lion New Zealand joined the 2025 regatta. Both times, sailors and swimmers drifted over between races just to be near them.
For a club-run regatta, The Blake punches well above its weight. It functions as grassroots festival and proving ground at once, and every name on this December's start list is a reminder that New Zealand's sailing pipeline still runs through a small beach in Torbay.
Registration for the 2026 regatta is now open to all youth sailors under the age of 19 as at 31 December 2026.
