Oceanbridge Shipping on board as headline sponsor

New Zealand’s oldest sporting event and an iconic fixture on the City of Sails’ calendar has secured a new naming rights sponsor for its 184th edition on Monday 29 January, 2024. The Oceanbridge Auckland Anniversary Day Regatta will be the event’s official new title from today.

After two years in which the regatta has operated without a naming rights sponsor, organisers are celebrating the sponsorship agreement with Oceanbridge Shipping as a welcome endorsement of this much-loved and timeless event.

“It’s been a really tough few years for sponsorship” says the regatta’s Executive Officer Joyce Talbot, “Since Covid we know a lot of businesses have been struggling, and now with so much economic uncertainty and rising costs putting the squeeze on everyone, we are over the moon that Oceanbridge Shipping have come on board to support an event that means so much to the people of Auckland.”

Oceanbridge Shipping is no stranger to the sailing community in New Zealand. The Oceanbridge name is already associated with the NZL Sailing Regatta – the country’s premier Olympic and youth classes event. The company has previously been a sponsor of the Auckland Anniversary Day Regatta too, and Oceanbridge Shipping Managing Director Bill Speedy is a Vice Patron of the regatta.

Oceanbridge Shipping, a privately owned New Zealand company, was started in 1981 by Bill Speedy. In 2017, Speedy was recognised in the New Year Honours list for services to watersports and philanthropy, with the award of an Officer of The New Zealand Order of Merit. His company donates more than $100,000 to charities annually, including the Coastguard and Surf Life Saving New Zealand.

The Oceanbridge Auckland Anniversary Day Regatta will feature on-water racing across the city throughout Auckland Anniversary Day. The event brings together the greatest number of participants of any single-day regatta in the world, with hundreds taking to the water in yachts, launches, tugboats, dragon boats, waka ama, dinghies and foiling craft.

The Oceanbridge Auckland Anniversary Day Regatta is also made possible with the support of Auckland Council, Lawson’s Dry Hills Wines, Rothbury Insurance Brokers, Ellerslie Jewellers, Aotearoa Gaming Trust, Trillian Trust, the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron and the Royal New Zealand Navy.

For more information on Oceanbridge Shipping, visit their website.