RR2, day 2, race 5   The big news is that Emirates Team New Zealand’s boat Taihoro fell from its crane yesterday, luckily right into its...

The underdog vs the top dog Round Robin 1, Race 4, 29 Aug   Both boats are under number one jibs and are looking awfully soft in the...

A re-match from 1851 Round Robin 1, race 3 29 August 2024, day one   This is shaping up for a good match. I’m picking American Magic to...

Round Robin one, race day 2, 29 August 2024 Technically, this race counts for nothing on the points table. Emotionally, competitively, it...

Round robin 1, 29 Aug, day one Orient Express Racing of France on port, Alinghi Red Bull Racing on starboard. A soft 6-8 knots easterly...

This article was first published on northsails.com , January 2021.   By Rebecca Hayter   When Sir Ben Ainslie described the cunningham as...

This month, a Mosquito aircraft made its first flight from Ardmore, NZ after a lengthy build process which had been largely inspired by...

By Rebecca Hayter First published in NZ Yachting special issue, 2012 Republished in memory of the no-bullshit John Street, who loved and...

The Year of the Quiet Sun: a leader’s perspective In 1968, Adrian Hayter presented my sister Sarah and me, then four years old, with our...

Greetings, Thanks to NZ Booklovers for a candid review of my latest book: Storms Ahead Rick Dodson: America’s Cup champion to...

What You Wish For One man’s guide to life, death and alternative therapies By Paul Blacklow and Rebecca Hayter Fifteen years ago I...

One of the most fun funerals - ok, strictly a memorial - I ever attended was yacht designer Des Townson's. It was led by his close friend...

Sometimes you just have to do something that you’ve said you’ll never do. It lets your inner, crazy rebel out to play. In my case, having...

The course of true love never did run smooth, even in the chookhouse. A marine biologist once told me I had committed the gentle sin of...

About a year after coming to Oceanspirit, I finally got my ducks in a row: Donald, Dorothy and Delia Duck. Muscovy ducks, they were...

I still call it the Big Storm. It threw deck chairs into the tussock as I pulled on my jacket and ran to feed the chooks. As I passed the...

In my career as a yachting journalist, I’ve routinely used terms such as ‘tacking for the lay’, ‘bear-away set’ and ‘finite element...

“The South Island is calling me back.” I’d been saying it for 15 years. Late at night in my Auckland apartment, I’d go online and Google:...

If only the best moments of my life took as long as those agonising seconds to roll into the ditch. I had plenty of time to put my foot...

The adventures and misadventures of boat maintenance... After a year of boat ownership, I had become more confident in handling my Raven...