New Zealanders' passion for sailing is revealed by the huge number of craft out on the harbour at weekends and evenings, particularly in summer.
Many idyllic out-of-the-way places are best accessed by boat - whether through sail or engine power - which provides a unique way to explore the country.
With nearly 16,000 km (10,000 miles) of coastline, it’s almost impossible to escape the sea in New Zealand. But with stunning bays and islands, sheltered harbours, mountain fiords and lakes, who would want to avoid it?
The maritime reserves in the Bay of Islands, the Hauraki Gulf and Marlborough Sounds are among the most beautiful cruising spots in the world. Fiordland, with its deep fiords and glacial lakes, is one of the most unique sailing venues on the planet.
Five of New Zealand’s top sailing spots
Bay of Islands
An idyllic group of 144 islands in the ‘winterless’ north of the North Island, the Bay of Islands is rated one of the world’s best cruising spots. It’s usually the first port of call for hundreds of yachts dropping down from the tropics in the cyclone season.
Secluded white-sand beaches are everywhere, and seafood - snapper, John Dory, mussels and kina (sea eggs) - is plentiful. It’s also famed for its big game fishing - American novelist Zane Grey dubbed its waters "the angler’s El Dorado".
Every year, competitive yachties sail from Auckland to Russell, the ‘capital’ of the Bay of Islands, in the country’s most popular inshore race, the 120-mile Coastal Classic.
Hauraki Gulf
Visitors are awestruck to find a maritime paradise so close to a major city. There are 47 islands dotted around the Hauraki Gulf Maritime Park - some like Waiheke and the volcanic peak of Rangitoto - less than an hour away under sail. Some of the islands, like Tiritiri Matangi and Little Barrier, are refuges for rare and endangered wildlife. Dolphins and blue penguins, and sometimes orca, can be seen in the sparkling waters of the Gulf.
Auckland is known the world over as the City of Sails - its harbours glitter with triangles of white sailcloth. Auckland’s rugged west coast is the ideal place for surfing, kite-boarding and land yachting.
Wellington Harbour
Wellington holds the distinction of being one of the windiest cities in the world, making it a haven for sailors. Wellington sits in a ‘river of wind’, with the Cook Strait between the North and South islands creating a wind corridor that sweeps into its harbour.
The capital city’s wide and deep harbour enfolds many bays that are perfect for dinghy and board sailing, and it is home to 13 strong yacht clubs. Wellington was a short stopover in the 2005-2006 Volvo Ocean Race as the fleet sailed through Cook Strait on the way to the Southern Ocean.
Marlborough Sounds
It’s been called one of the world’s best-kept maritime secrets. The Marlborough Sounds, at the top of the South Island, is a labyrinth of islands, bays, coves and waterways fringed by native forest. A collection of drowned river valleys, the Sounds are a sanctuary for some of New Zealand’s endangered wildlife - South Island robins, fur seals and the Hector’s, dusky and bottlenose dolphins.
The wreckage of the Russian cruise ship Mikhail Lermontov has become an artificial reef perfect for divers.
The Southern Fiords
Fiordland, in the south-west corner of the South Island, is like nowhere else in New Zealand, a World Heritage park with inlets from the Tasman Sea running into unspoilt, primeval forest and lakes gouged out by huge glaciers.
In Milford Sound, described by Rudyard Kipling as the "eighth wonder of the world", mountains rise out of the water, and boats can sail under huge rock overhangs and cascading waterfalls. Doubtful Sound is the deepest of the fiords (421m) and a haven for bottlenose dolphins, fur seals and crested penguins. Lake Te Anau is the country’s second largest lake.
Source: Tourism New Zealand