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You may already know.. But we are now the current 470 World Champions.

Wellington Ocean Sports will be running an Advanced Sea Survival Course over the weekend 31 August to 1 September. Advanced Sea Survival is a comprehensive theoretical and practical course required by crew competing in offshore races (category 1), such as the Sydney to Hobart and the recently announced A2B race. The course is equally applicable for anyone considering a cruising passage.

Winners are Grinners, Taylor Burn and Henry Gibbs, Team NZL win the British 420 Nationals by a clear margin of 10 points. Misty rain this morning, a little cool and the promise of more shifty conditions from the same wind direction as yesterday. Not as much wind but still very sailable at 9-11 knots.

ISAF is now inviting all Member National Authorities to bid for the 2017 ISAF Youth Sailing World Championship. The ISAF Youth Sailing World Championship is ISAFs longest running event, having taken place every year since the first championships hosted by Sweden in 1971. The event has been held in 26 countries over the past 43 years. The 43rd edition took place from 13-20 July in Limassol, Cyprus before the flag was passed over by Cypriot sailors to the Portuguese team, host team of the 2014 ISAF Youth Worlds that will take place in Tavira.

Here’s a look at the up-coming sailing related events around the country for the next couple of weeks. See the YNZ on-line calendar for full details of these events and those on beyond that. See training opportunities for full information on the YNZ Coaching and Race Official training courses coming up.

Takapuna Boating Club is going to run some training sessions for people wanting to know more about mark laying, working on a signal boat, working on a pin end boat and working on a finish boat. They will be using these sessions to up skill their volunteers for the upcoming A- Class Pre Worlds and February(5th -8th) and Worlds ( 9th -16th).

Yachting New Zealand is seeking contact details for the Lotus Owners Association. If anyone can help please email us at YNZ Reception.

The visible work commenced at the Burkes St Leonards Boating Club at the beginning of this month to rebuild their wharf; though when talking with the Club’s Commodore, Barry Whipp, work to secure funding to start work has been underway for about two years prior to the first pile being driven.

The Chicago Match Race Centre played host to the 5th stop on the Alpari World Match Racing tour. The regatta was run off the famous navy pier in conjunction with the Tall Ships festival. An estimated million people passed through the pier to take a look over the five day regatta.

Emirates Team New Zealand is settling in for a week of intensive preparations in the five days before the start of the Louis Vuitton Cup finals.

The 10 teams entered in the Red Bull Youth America’s Cup received their AC45s today, marking the official beginning of the series created to give youth sailors a pathway to be an America’s Cup sailor.

The ISAF World Sailing Rankings for 12 August 2013 have been released. • Belcher still dominant in Men’s 470 after 17th straight victory and fourth world title in a row • Paine (USA) shifts Casey (AUS) off Finn top spot • Croatians become 49er World #1 for first time • Six British sailors in top three

With Sir Ben Ainslie and Artemis Racing already part of the SOS story, SOS Rehydrate is building quite a following in the professional sailing community. To complement our current champions SOS is really pleased to be the official rehydration drink of the NZL Sailing Team with ETNZ Red Bull Youth Americas Cup entry and welcome them into our champions hall of fame.

Jo Aleh and Polly Powrie have been crowned 470 Women’s World Champions for the first time, the title coming exactly one year to the day since they won Olympic Gold. Paul Snow-Hansen and Dan Willcox have finished 7th in the Men’s Championship.

Sonar sailors David Barnes, Rick Dodson, Andrew May and John Weston are in Kinsale, Ireland, for the 2013 IFDS Combined World Championships to be sailed later this month. At a well attended send off function with supporters and friends on July 31st, the team confirmed their intentions to aim for the podium in Kinsale, kicking off their campaign for selection to the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games.

Jo Aleh and Polly Powrie are one step closer to claiming their first world title in the Olympic 470 class with just one day and one race remaining at the 2013 470 World Championships now coming to its conclusion in La Rochelle, France. Paul Snow-Hansen and Dan Willcox have scraped into the Men’s top eight and will be back on the race course tomorrow too.

The tables have turned after day four at the 2013 470 World Championships on now in La Rochelle, France with NZL Sailing Team’s Jo Aleh and Polly Powrie regaining the lead in the Women’s fleet, while Paul Snow-Hansen and Dan Willcox didn’t fair so well and have dropped to 11th in the Men’s Championship. All fleets sailed three races in 10-15 knot winds in La Rochelle today.

This week the seven sailors who make up the NZL Sailing Team with ETNZ have arrived in San Francisco to prepare for the 2013 Red Bull Youth America’s Cup.

Nacra17 multihull campaigners Jason Saunders and Gemma Jones report in on the recent Nacra17 World Championships, where they placed 9th and what’s on next… We are back in New Zealand again and recovering from a hard Europe trip and a bit of jet-lag! It’s been a successful trip and we are both very happy with how things panned out.

I have spent the past two weeks in Rio training here for the first time in the Laser. It is a venue that I will become as familiar with as possible over the next few years in the build-up to the 2016 Olympics.

Today’s conditions were a lot lighter than yesterday but impressively the race committee managed to put away 10 flights leaving 4 races to be completed in the round robin tomorrow. The day was packed with some fantastic racing and we even saw a match where one team was forced to tack going down wind with a spinnaker up which made for interesting discussions in the debrief.

Finals rounds got underway today at the 2013 470 World Championships with the La Rochelle venue testing sailors with more challenging conditions on day three of the six day long regatta. Paul Snow-Hansen and Dan Willcox (pictured) are now in 2nd place in the Men’s fleet; Jo Aleh and Polly Powrie are lying 6th in Women’s. Racing was in 8-14 knots of unstable breeze with strong tidal currents and a choppy sea.

Day two of the 2013 470 World Championships has drawn to a close with the qualifying rounds complete and both NZL Sailing Team crews are well placed as they carry forward their ranking to the finals rounds which kick off in La Rochelle, France tomorrow.

This drill splits the fleet in 2, with half starting on the “front row” and half in the “second row”. The drill highlights the importance of getting a good start on the line rather than behind the fleet, effectively on a different lower start line.

This drill can be set up for a group or for sailors by themselves. For this drill there are 4 marks and 4 boats. Have a rolling countdown, every minute there is a start. Boats must start as close to the mark, as though the mark was the Committee Boat and they wanted to win the right hand side of the start.

Infinity Racing are currently in Sweden, racing in the Lysekil Women’s Match, the final regatta of the Women’s International Match Racing Series. After a very impressive weigh in we had a day on the water to familiarise ourselves with the boats and our team.

On the eve of the 25th anniversary of the 1988 Bi-Centenary Around Australia Race (08/08/1988), Ocean Events is pleased to announce that the inaugural ‘Ocean Race Around Australia’ will go ahead in 2014. Ocean Events invites mono and multihull boats from Australia and around the world to join the inaugural ‘Ocean Race Around Australia’.

Ports of Auckland has signed up as the new naming rights sponsor for the Auckland Anniversary Day Regatta. “The Regatta, like the port, is as old as Auckland. The first Auckland Regatta was held on the day the city was founded in 1840, 11 years before the first America’s Cup race. We have a connection with the Regatta both through this history and the Waitematā harbour we share, which makes it the perfect event for us to support,” Chief Executive Tony Gibson said.

PIC Insurance Brokers takes Coastal Classic yacht race onboard An independent New Zealand insurance brokerage with strong connections to the marine industry is the Coastal Classic’s new major sponsor. The iconic race, which is recognised as one of the world’s ‘must do’ sailing events, will now be called the PIC Insurance Brokers Coastal Classic.

Jo Aleh and Polly Powrie have the early lead in the Women’s fleet at the 2013 470 World Championships while NZL Sailing Team team-mates Paul Snow-Hansen and Dan Willcox have also started strongly to hold 3rd in the Men’s.

Alan Williams has been the GBR Optimist National Coach for over 10 years. His Optimist Handbook is a great read and reference for any Optimist sailor, coach or parent. The book covers all abilities from Basic Rigging and Boat Handling to Strategy, Goal Setting and Nutrition.

Markus Somerville and Jack Simpson from Auckland’s Wakatere Boating Club have won silver at the 2013 29er class World Championships just finished at Arhus, Denmark. Twenty-five nations representing all continents sailed at the 2013 29er World Championships with 213 entries (426 sailors) in a highly competitive fleet. The 29er is a two-handed skiff which is a pre-cursor class to the Olympic 49er skiff sailed by Peter Burling and Blair Tuke.