Over its 150-year history, the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron (RNZYS) has kept pace with astonishing developments in yacht design and technology, from the wood-and-cotton era through to the space-age carbon-fibre and titanium materials in use today. In honour of this anniversary, this stamp issue celebrates four of New Zealand’s key competitive yachts.
$4.00 Rainbow - Designed and built in 1898, Rainbow scored a resounding victory over the best of the Sydney fleet in the 1900 Intercolonial Regatta. Built from durable New Zealand kauri, it remains an active racer on the RNZYS register to this day.
$3.50 Rainbow II - In 1967, young Auckland sailmaker Chris Bouzaid sold his house to finance the construction of Rainbow II. In 1969, at their second attempt, Bouzaid and his Kiwi crew confounded the yachting world by capturing the One Ton Cup.
$2.70 Steinlager II - By the late 1980s, timber construction had been replaced first by fibreglass and then by materials like kevlar, carbon fibre and titanium. Designed by New Zealand’s Bruce Farr for Peter Blake, Steinlager II won all six legs of the gruelling 1989 Whitbread Round the World Race.
$1.40 Te Rehutai - In 2021, the RNZYS and Team New Zealand will defend the America’s Cup in Auckland in a new class of spectacular monohulls. Built from carbon and titanium, the competing yachts reach speeds of 50 knots on foils that lift them entirely out of the water.
