The Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron has set Saturday 22 August 2026 as the date for its annual Barfoot & Thompson Women's Day Out, gathering women and girls from every background and experience level on the Waitematā Harbour for a day built around keelboat racing, skill development, and community.
Tickets are already on sale. The event is open to complete beginners and experienced racers alike, and reduced pricing for sailors under 18 signals a genuine commitment from organisers to lower the barriers to entry and draw more young people into the sport.
Building a stronger pipeline of female sailors is central to what the 2026 programme is trying to achieve. Girls aged 14 to 18 will race aboard the Squadron's fleet of Elliott 7 keelboats, with helms drawn from the Emirates Team New Zealand Youth Training Programme's pool of female athletes. Pairing emerging competitors with high-performance athletes in a race environment is intended to both challenge participants and give them a close-up view of what a pathway in the sport can look like.
The format has been put together with dinghy sailors from Auckland clubs particularly in mind, providing a clear and supported entry point into keelboat sailing for those making that transition. Beyond the racing itself, the structure creates natural mentoring moments between the youth sailors and the athletes at the helm, with organisers hoping those connections will contribute to lasting pathways for young women within the sport.
Sailors who do not have a full crew should not be put off, as crew-matching support is on offer to make sure nobody misses out simply because they cannot arrive with a complete team. Once the racing is done, the day rolls into lunch, dinner, prize-giving, and entertainment.
