Tauranga college students hoping to carve out international sailing careers have been given the perfect training tools - two brand new 420 racing dinghies named after their home-town heroes.
The Bay of Plenty Sailing Academy Trust yesterday christened two additions to their fleet of 420s, naming them after Tauranga Olympians Peter Burling and Andrew Murdoch.
"It's fantastic, we could not have done it without the support of the sponsors," Trust chairman Stuart Pedersen said at the naming ceremony carried out on the front lawn of the Tauranga Yacht and Power Boat Club.
TECT and the Lion Foundation contributed $28,000 of the $36,000 needed to buy the two racing dinghies from world-leading Auckland 420 builder, Mackay Boats.
It boosts the trust's fleet of new or near-new 420s to six dinghies plus three older boats. Four more of the older dinghies have gone to Rotorua and the Port of Ohope Yacht Club.