The winners of the 2026 Barfoot & Thompson Yachting Excellence Awards have been selected by the judging panel and will be celebrated at a special awards event at Royal Akarana Yacht Club on Friday, 6 November 2026.
Click here to get your tickets.
The recipients of the following awards will be revealed on the night:
- Orbit World Travel Sailor of the Year Award for the Sir Bernard Fergusson Trophy
- Barfoot & Thompson Male Sailor of the Year Award
- Barfoot & Thompson Female Sailor of the Year Award
- NZL Sailing Foundation Young Male Sailor of the Year Award
- NZL Sailing Foundation Young Female Sailor of the Year Award
- B&G Performance Coach of the Year
- Yachting New Zealand Emerging Coach of the Year
- Millennium Hotels and Resorts Official of the Year
- PredictWind Emerging Talent Award
- Lawson’s Dry Hills Peter Lester Award for Outstanding Contribution to Sailing
- MAST Academy Young Leadership Award
- Hesketh Henry Inclusive Sailing Award
- North Sails Sportsmanship Award
- AON Sustainability Award
- Appliances Online Youth Performance Awards
- Kiwi Yachting & Baltic Lifejackets Cruising Awards
In the second of a two-part series, meet the winners of the Radix Nutrition Performance Awards.
Click here for Meet the winners, Part I – Yamaha Motor NZ Service Awards.
Aimee Bright (Manly Sailing Club)
The past 12 months have seen Aimee establish herself among the world’s leading female windfoilers, winning silver at the iQFOiL European Championships and Olympic Classes Regatta before being crowned under-23 world champion, having finished runner-up at last year’s event. She has also won the New Zealand class national championships and 2026 Oceanbridge Sail Auckland, finished seventh at French Olympic Week, and coached emerging sailors through the Russell Coutts Sailing Foundation.
Chris Bouzaid (Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron)
Legendary sailor and 1969 One Ton Cup winner Chris continued his remarkable career at 84, remaining undefeated in the 2026 Maine classic yacht season aboard Bijou II. He won the Classics Division at the Boothbay Harbour Yacht Club Regatta and Camden Classics Cup, taking overall honours at Camden, before being crowned Maine district champion in the Classic Yacht Challenge Series.
Don Cowie (Milford Cruising Club) and Murray Jones (Royal Akarana Yacht Club)
Don and Murray helped Sled win the 2026 Rolex TP52 World Championship in Porto Cervo, securing the team’s second world title. Murray served as tactician, while Don was mainsheet trimmer and team manager. Sled held their nerve in a tightly contested final race to claim the championship by two points after five days of racing.
George Gautrey (Muritai Yacht Club)
George won bronze at the 2026 ILCA 7 European Championships in Croatia, finishing as the top non-European sailor and just three points from the title. He led the championship into the final day after winning three of the opening four races, and later finished 25th at the ILCA 7 World Championships in Dún Laoghaire.
Rebecca Gmuer-Hornell (Opua Cruising Club)
Rebecca was part of the first all-female crew to complete a non-stop circumnavigation of the globe, aboard IDEC SPORT in 57 days, 21 hours and 20 minutes. Sailing the Jules Verne Trophy course, the crew overcame severe Southern Ocean conditions, equipment failures and significant damage, with the result more than 16 days faster than Sir Peter Blake’s 1994 benchmark.
Seb Menzies (Murrays Bay Sailing Club) and George Lee Rush (Wakatere Boating Club)
Seb and George became the youngest-ever 49er world champions, winning the 2026 title in Quiberon, France, after a dramatic final-race comeback. They also defended their European title in Germany, becoming back-to-back champions. Their world title made them New Zealand’s first Olympic-class world champions since 2021 and further established the pair among the leading young teams in international sailing.
Karl Purdie (Plimmerton Boating Club)
Karl claimed the 2026 Finn Great Grand Master World Championship crown in Brisbane, becoming the first New Zealander to achieve the feat. He also finished third at the Finn Masters World Championship, the highest-ever result by a Kiwi, and seventh at the open Finn Gold Cup, competing against younger sailors, Olympians and world champions at age 59.
Dave Shaw (Nelson Yacht Club)
Dave completed a remarkable national championship trifecta in 2026, winning the Paper Tiger, A Class and Tornado titles. He won all nine races at the Paper Tiger championship, all completed A Class open-division races and all eight Tornado races. The haul adds three national titles to an already decorated multihull career spanning multiple A Class and Paper Tiger championships.
Veerle ten Have (Tauranga Yacht and Powerboat Club)
Veerle produced the best world championship result of her career, finishing fifth at the 2026 iQFOiL World Championships in Weymouth. She qualified fifth for the medal series before reaching the semifinal, improving on her previous best world championship finish of ninth. The Paris 2024 Olympian also claimed silver at the North American Championships earlier in the season.
Hugo Wigglesworth (Kohimarama Yacht Club)
Hugo successfully defended his Hydrofoil Big Air world title in Sylt, Germany, scoring two nines to win a closely fought four-man final. The 19-year-old had first won the title in his first season on tour, after an electrifying final in Abu Dhabi that saw him edge out Germany’s Finn Flügel in a showdown for the ages.
Originally published by Yachting New Zealand.
