Sailing: New Zealand to host 49er, 49erFX and Nacra 17 world championships

Peter Burling and Blair Tuke won gold in the 49er class at the Rio Olympics. Photo / Photosport

Olympic silver medallist Molly Meech was hopeful more Kiwis would take to the water when New Zealand played host to the 2019 49er, 49erFX and Nacra 17 World Championships.

As many as 400 of the world's best sailors will descend on Auckland's Royal Akarana Yacht Club from November 29 to December 8 next year with many of the countries involved to likely use the event for Olympic selection.

With the cost of competing in the event significantly less with it being at home, Meech said it would be good to see a lot of Kiwis get involved.

"I think because it's in our own country and people will be able to get second-hand boats or just boats from the rest of the New Zealand sailing team, hopefully we'll see a few more of the younger guys jumping in a bit earlier than normal. It'd be awesome to have 10 or 12 boats from New Zealand competing."

With the Volvo Ocean Race currently in town, Meech was hopeful the profile of the sport would continue to rise with the announcement of the World Championships.

Meech, and 49erFX partner Alex Maloney, were preparing to travel to Europe for this year's World Championships, which would be held in Denmark in August. While they weren't looking past this year's event, the idea of being able to display why they love their sport on home turf was an exciting prospect.

"I mean, for New Zealand to see what kind of sport we do and to see the different levels of it is pretty special," Meech said.

"For us having the Volvo here, we get pretty excited about it and it's cool to see the hype just of the public flowing through. I think it'll keep raising the profile of sailing and hopefully become one of those mainstream sports someday."

Olympic gold medalist 49er duo Blair Tuke and Peter Burling were yet to confirm their involvement in the event, however Tuke said he would love to be a part of it.

"Pete and I would love to be there but we're still working that through with our coaches and will decide after the Volvo Ocean Race is completed."