Sports Minister to outline detail on NZ National Sailing Centre

by Richard Gladwell on 11 Jun 2010
The Minister of Sport and Recreation, Murray McCully will outline the details on a new National Ocean Sports Centre on Monday afternoon.

Today the NZ Prime Minister, John Key, announced a raft of Government spending initiatives on High Performance Sport, this morning at the Millennium Centre, on Auckland's North Shore.

The increase will cover an annual spending increase of $20million per year, along with the announcement of several cornerstone projects and infrastructure to support the development of Olympic sports.

Planned for the northern end of Takapuna Beach, close to the Takapuna Boating Club, the national Ocean Sports centre will become the base for Yachting New Zealand's High performance program, and will accommodate other oceanic water sports which are already well established in the area.

Details of the structure will be released on Monday, however it is expected to be a very innovative design which will provide substantial boat storage, as well as facilities for sailors to change, shower and debrief after training.

The facility will also be a keystone in the organisation of major events at Takapuna Beach, which has been the venue for many world sailing championships, including four Olympic class world championships and Olympic qualification events in 2008.

Expected to cost about $7million the facility will be jointed funded by the NZ Government and the North Shore City Council. About $1million will be funded externally.