New Zealand sailors will be spread across Europe and North America this month, with youth sailors and NZL Sailing Squad members competing at a string of major regattas from Germany to California.
The action starts in Kiel, where the country's 29er sailors begin their World Championship campaign tomorrow, racing through to 9 July. They arrive in good form after Kiel Week, where four Kiwi crews finished inside the top 20 of a fleet of more than 100 boats. Nelsen Meacham and Oli Stone led the way in fourth, with Ewan Brazle and Toby Clark seventh, Blake Batten and Hugo Smith 12th, and Bella Jenkins and Jess Handley 17th. Matteo Barker and Leo Brown finished 53rd.
One day later, the 420 World Championships open in Biscarrosse, France, with Amber Hughes and Phoebe Willis, Zofia Wells and Charlotte Handley, and Ashton Cooke and Charlie Bridger representing New Zealand. Wells and Handley arrive with some form behind them, having finished 15th at Kiel Week in a highly competitive fleet.
The iQFOiL Youth and Junior World Championships also get underway on 3 July in Ballena Alegre, Spain. Margarita Konstantinova and Elbe White make up the under-19 women's team, while Vlad Misescu, Josh Tuck, Finn Davies and Ben Rist, a former NZL Sailing Foundation Youth World Championship Team member, form the under-19 men's squad.
Six Kiwi crews head to Eckernförde, Germany, next week for the 49er, 49erFX and Nacra 17 European Championships. In Gdynia, Poland, from 11 to 17 July, Tessa Clinton and Will Mason will be New Zealand's sole representatives at the 470 Junior World Championship, competing in a fleet of 51 boats. The pair showed promise in their fledgling partnership by finishing 12th at Kiel Week.
Across the Atlantic, New Zealand will contest two North American titles in California. George Pilkington, Caleb Armit and George Gautrey race the ILCA 7 at the ILCA North American Championships in San Pedro from 9 to 12 July, with Greta Pilkington and Tom Pilkington in the ILCA 6.
Attention then shifts to Long Beach for the iQFOiL North American Championships from 25 to 27 July, held at the venue for sailing at the Los Angeles 2028 Olympic Games. Paris 2024 Olympians Josh Armit and Veerle ten Have headline a strong New Zealand squad that also includes Eli Liefting, Blake Hinsley, Davies, White and Daniella Wooldridge, along with rising windsurfers Aimee Bright and Stella Bilger. Bright claimed a breakthrough silver at the 2026 iQFOiL European Championships in Portimão, Portugal, in May, while Bilger won gold at last year's under-23 World Championships at the same venue.
Many of New Zealand's Olympic campaigners will also compete at the Olympic Classes Regatta in San Pedro from 17 July to 8 August. The ILCA 6, ILCA 7 and mixed 470 fleets race from 17 to 24 July, before the 49er, 49erFX and Nacra 17 classes take to the water from 1 to 8 August.
