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Intrigue is building around who will pick up the major gongs at Friday's Aon Yachting Excellence Awards at the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron.
The first batch of winners have already been announced for this year's awards, and they will be presented with their awards at Friday's gala dinner before the major winners will be announced.
Last year the Sir Bernard Fergusson Trophy for the Orbit World Travel Sailor of the Year Award was won by Emirates Team New Zealand for the fifth time following their defence of the America's Cup, although the awards dinner was unfortunately cancelled due to Covid-19. It was held online instead and can be viewed here.
This year it returns to the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron and will once again be hosted by Celebrity Treasure Island winner Jesse Tuke. Tickets have sold out.
We've been introducing the award winners in the Service Awards supported by Boating New Zealand, Cruising Award supported by Wichard on Safety at Sea, Youth Performance Awards supported by Harken and the Yachting New Zealand Performance Awards.
We'd like to take this opportunity to thank our partners and sponsors for supporting these awards again and ask readers to consider supporting these companies when making purchasing decisions.
Major awards to be announced at the Aon Yachting Excellence Awards
- Orbit World Travel Sailor of the Year Award for the Sir Bernard Fergusson Trophy
- Aon Male Sailor of the Year Award
- Aon 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 Coach of the Year
- Yachting New Zealand Official of the Year
- Aon Emerging Talent Award
- Lawson's Dry Hills President's Award
- VMG Young Leadership Award
- North Sails Sportsmanship Award
- Yachting New Zealand Sustainability Award
The Yachting Excellence Awards have been running since 1963 and you can find a list of previous winners here.
