New Zealand sailors will be spread across Europe and North America this month, with youth sailors and members of the wider NZL Sailing Squad competing at a string of major regattas from Germany to California.
The country’s young 29er sailors begin the 29er World Championship in Kiel, Germany, tomorrow, with racing running through to 9 July. They arrive on the back of an impressive showing at 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, while Ewan Brazle and Toby Clark, Matteo Barker and Leo Brown, Bella Jenkins and Jess Handley, and Blake Batten and Hugo Smith also head to the worlds in encouraging form.
The 420 World Championships begin a day later in Biscarrosse, France, where New Zealand will be represented by Amber Hughes and Phoebe Willis, Zofia Wells and Charlotte Handley, and Ashton Cooke and Charlie Bridger. Wells and Handley also competed at Kiel Week, finishing 15th in a highly competitive fleet.
The iQFOiL Youth and Junior World Championships also get underway on 3 July in Ballena Alegre, Spain. New Zealand’s under-19 women’s team comprises Margarita Konstantinova and Elbe White, while the under-19 men’s squad features Vlad Misescu, Josh Tuck, Finn Davies and Ben Rist, a former NZL Sailing Foundation Youth World Championship Team member.
Six Kiwi crews will line up in Eckernförde, Germany, next week for the 49er, 49erFX and Nacra 17 European Championships, while, 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.
Further afield, New Zealand sailors will head to California for two North American championships.
At the ILCA North American Championships in San Pedro from 9 to 12 July, George Pilkington, Caleb Armit and George Gautrey will contest the ILCA 7, while Greta Pilkington and Tom Pilkington compete 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. New Zealand will field a strong squad led by Paris 2024 Olympians Josh Armit and Veerle ten Have. They will be joined by Eli Liefting, Blake Hinsley, Davies, White and Daniella Wooldridge, along with rising windsurfers Aimee Bright and Stella Bilger.
Bright claimed a breakthrough silver medal 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.
Originally published by Yachting New Zealand.
