2021 150 Years of Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron

 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.




$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.


$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.


$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.


$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.

Technical Information

Date of issue: 2 March 2021
Number of stamps: Four gummed
Denominations: $1.40, $2.70, $3.50, $4.00
Designed and illustrated by: John Morris, New Zealand Post, Wellington, New Zealand
Printer and process: Southern Colour Print, New Zealand by lithography
Number of colours: Four process colours
Stamp size and format: 50mm x 35.71mm (vertical)
Miniature sheet size and format: 190mm x 90mm (horizontal)
Paper type: Tullis Russell 106gsm red phosphor gummed stamp paper
Number of stamps per sheet: 25
Perforation gauge: 14 x 14.4
Special blocks: Plate/imprint blocks may be obtained by purchasing at least six stamps from a sheet. Barcode blocks are available in A and B formats.
Period of sale: Unless stocks are exhausted earlier, these stamps will remain on sale until 2 March 2022. First day covers will remain on sale until 28 April 2021.

Some of the images in this post were used with permission from the illustrated catalogue of StampsNZ
You can visit their website and Online Catalogue at, http://stampsnz.com/

Information & images for this post came from.