Yachting legend Sir Russell Coutts comes to Napier

New Zealand yachting legend Sir Russell Coutts coaches young sailors at Napier Sailing Club on Friday. Photo / Warren Buckland

World champion yachtsman Sir Russell Coutts attended Napier Sailing Club's Summer Regatta at the weekend.

Sir Russell held a training day on Friday to teach younger sailors how to use the O'pen BIC (a single-handed sailboat designed for younger sailors) before the regatta on Saturday and yesterday.

This year was the first time the regatta had an O'pen BIC event and 34 people entered.

The entire regatta had 160 entries from Wellington to the Bay of Islands and nine different fleets on two courses.

Napier Sailing Club commodore Paul Redman said the training day was a great way to help upskill about 20 young sailors with a simple training course.

Sir Russell also did a question-and-answer session at the club on Friday night with several hundred people in attendance.

"It went down very well, he answered any question that was put to him."

The conditions at the regatta were perfect because the boats entered were smaller and there was only a little breeze.

"We were really happy with the conditions.

"It really suited that style of boat."

A couple of fleets had their North Island or East Coast championships too which was great, Mr Redman said.

The Summer Regatta, which has been held for about four years, occurs on the last weekend of November and is now the club's largest regatta.

"The club has traditionally had a big New Year regatta but we've been moving to make this one big."

The club will no longer be holding a regatta in the New Year because people tend to go away and want to be with family, he said.