The Gela Skincare Women's Regatta returns to Waikawa this weekend, with two days of racing and a new Taste of Marlborough raft-up in Queen Charlotte Sound.
Before the first start gun sounds at Waikawa this weekend, five launches will raft together in a quiet corner of Queen Charlotte Sound for the Gela Skincare Women's Regatta, back for its second running under that name from 11 to 13 September, with racing on Saturday and Sunday. Organisers describe the lead-up as feeling like "a duck gliding effortlessly across a pond" on top, with the legs paddling furiously underneath.
Friday afternoon's Taste of Marlborough gets a new format this year, moving from the beach to a five-launch raft-up in Queen Charlotte Sound, with food from each boat matched to Riverby Estate wine. The club also says it has shifted Division 3 toward building skills and confidence around the racecourse this year, stepping back from the hard-out racing in Divisions 1 and 2. Sunday morning wraps up with a rules tuition session run by a National Judge before the fleet heads back out.
Waikawa also arrives after a remarkable 12 months for New Zealand women offshore, led by two sailors from the same stretch of coastline. Bay of Islands sailor Sharon Ferris-Choat became the first woman to cross first in a division of the Solo Trans-Tasman Yacht Challenge, taking monohull line honours aboard Vixen Racing in 7 days, 9 minutes and 4 seconds, finishing second outright overall behind a multihull. Fellow Bay of Islands sailor Rebecca Gmuer-Hornell worked as rigger and port pitman aboard IDEC SPORT, part of the eight-woman crew sailing for The Famous Project CIC who set off near Ushant, France, in November 2025 and completed their circumnavigation in 57 days, 21 hours and 20 minutes as the first all-female crew to sail non-stop around the world, more than 16 days faster than Sir Peter Blake's 1994 reference time.
Megan Thomson, the reigning New Zealand Sailor of the Year and runner-up at the 2025 Women's Match Racing World Championship, and Anna Merchant, the Auckland offshore sailor who took line honours and set a new course record aboard Clockwork in this year's Three Kings Offshore Race, are still racing across the Atlantic aboard skipper Conrad Colman's MSIG Europe. MSIG Europe, the only non-foiling IMOCA in the six-boat fleet, remains sixth as the inaugural Ocean Race Atlantic heads toward Lorient.
There has been plenty happening closer to home as well. The Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron's Barfoot and Thompson Women's Day Out returned to the Waitematā Harbour in August for its fourth edition, with sailors aged 14 to 18 racing aboard RNZYS Elliott 7 keelboats helmed by female athletes from the Emirates Team New Zealand Youth Training Programme.
Tauranga Yacht & Power Boat Club's Women on Water programme celebrated its 25th anniversary this year, while Gulf Harbour Yacht Club's Women on Water Weekend celebrates its fifth edition in March 2027. At Waikawa this weekend, the club's own yachts are on offer to anyone who turns up without a boat or a crew.
Find out more about the Gela Skincare Women's Regatta 2026 from Waikawa Boating Club.
