Sir Peter Blake’s Legacy lives on at Torbay Regatta

Sir Peter Blake’s Legacy lives on at Torbay Regatta

The Sir Peter Blake Regatta at Torbay Sailing Club pays tribute to the legacy of a great New Zealander on the weekend of the 1st and 2nd of December this year.

Held off Waiake Beach, Torbay since 2002, this regatta has grown to be a major event on the small boat sailing calendar and around 400 sailors are expected to participate in the 2012 edition this coming weekend.

Highlights for this year’s regatta will be the appearance of 2012 Olympic gold medallists Jo Aleh and Olivia Powrie and silver medallists Peter Burling and Blair Tuke. In a significant tie in to the event, both Jo (in 2004) and Peter (in 2005) are previous winners of the Sir Peter Blake Memorial Trophy, which is awarded to the most outstanding youth sailor at the regatta.

Burling and Tuke will bring their Olympic silver medal winning 49er skiff to Waiake Beach for visitors to see and will take one lucky young Optimist Green Fleet (young learner) sailor out for a blast in their silver medal winning high performance skiff on the Saturday morning.

Regatta sponsors Team Vodafone Sailing, Harcourts Cooper and Co, Albany Toyota, Auckland Council, Pub Charity, Zhik, Harken and Oceanbridge provide important support for the regatta and Team Vodafone Sailing’s 60ft Trimaran will make an appearance for the young sailors and their families to go out and look onboard and win spot prizes.

In addition, key members of the Vodafone Warriors will attend the regatta on Sunday afternoon and will be available for the young sailors to meet and get autographs.

In a further link to the Blake legacy, Sir Peter’s 1989/90 Whitbread Round the World Yacht Race winning maxi ketch Steinlager 2 will be anchored off Waiake Beach on Saturday afternoon and the New Zealand Sailing Trust will be offering the opportunity for regatta participants to board and look over the legendary Kiwi yacht.
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