KEY POINTS:
It started in June with Mike Sanderson's sensational win in the round-the-world race and ended with a commanding victory by Hamish Pepper and Carl Williams in the North American Star championships last month.
In between, Emirates Team New Zealand clinched the 2006 America's Cup Class championship, and 15-year-olds Carl Evans and Peter Burling sailed away with the Open 420-class world championship.
After the 2003 America's Cup loss and the 2004 Olympics, when New Zealand didn't win a medal, this year was a relief for yachting fans.
"You would have to go back a long way in history to find a better year than what New Zealand had this year in yachting," said Rod Davis, Yachting New Zealand's Olympic director and Team New Zealand afterguard coach.
"It's swings and roundabouts. This year a lot of things have fallen into place."
His highlight was Evans and Burling's win off the coast of Spain.
"I just look at that and go, 'Wow how cool is that? Fifteen-year-olds win the open worlds.' Hamish Pepper's win is as big or bigger, but just the fact Peter and Carl are 15 blows me away."
Davis yesterday announced the 2007 Yachting NZ Olympic squad. Yachting NZ introduced the squad, which focuses on individuals who have the potential to win Olympic medals, last year.
All of last year's squad have been retained, apart from the Yngling crew of Sharon Ferris, Raynor Smeal and Ashley Holtum and the Tornado crew of Aaron McIntosh and Bruce Kendall. But if they or any other sailors prove themselves during the year they will be added.
To be selected for the squad the sailors had either to have finished in the top 10 in this year's world championships or the top eight in this year's European championship. They could also be included if Yachting NZ's Olympic committee agreed special circumstances merited inclusion. They must requalify each year to remain in the squad.
Dan Slater and Jo Aleh did not quite meet the criteria in their classes but performed well enough to retain their places in the squad.
Finn sailor Slater won gold at the ISAF Grade One Keil Week and recorded four more top-10 results in major international regattas through the year. Aleh won a silver medal at the Olympic Test Event and bronze at the Holland Regatta.
Star crews Pepper and Williams and Rohan Lord and Miles Addy are new to the squad.
Pepper and Williams, who started in the competitive class only this year, won the world championships in October and then the North American title in November.
"It is unbelievable," Davis said of Pepper and Williams' success.
"I figured if they had a brilliant regatta at the world champs they'd end up in the top 10. I never dreamed they would win the world championships. After a world championship your next regatta is often a shocker ... it is like you have burned all your energy. But they went off and won the North Americans with a race to spare.
"The challenge that Hamish has is that Carl is going to go off and do the America's Cup [with Oracle], which means he is going to be out of play for the next few months but that has as many good things as bad things. One thing is, when Carl comes back they'll be fresh and enthusiastic - a lot of people overtrain."
Next year's world championships are the first chance for sailors to qualify their countries a spot in their class. When that happens in any class, Yachting New Zealand will hold trials to determine who will represent the country.
Burling and Evans are concentrating on the 420 world championships, which start off Takapuna on January 2, and have began dabbling in the Olympic 470 class.
Davis said that depending on how they went and whether anyone else was better, the pair could be added to the Olympic squad and might even go to the Olympics if New Zealand qualified in the class
"Having an Olympic Games under your belt, going into the next one makes you a lot more settled," he said. "If Carl and Peter jump in the 470 and look real good and we don't have anyone else we think can win a medal ... we might take them to give them Olympic experience. They are just like sponges they will take in so much."
Davis believes New Zealand could qualify in seven of the 11 Olympic classes for 2008.
"Our target is two medals. If we are competitive in seven classes, two medals could be realistic."
The squad
Yachting New Zealand Olympic squad for 2007
Barbara Kendall: RS:X Windsurfing
Tom Ashley: RS:X Windsurfing
Jo Aleh: Laser Radial
Andrew Murdoch: Laser
Dan Slater: Finn
Hamish Pepper and Carl Williams: Star
Rohan Lord and Miles Addy: Star
