Ralph Roberts (sailor)
Ralph Hamilton Roberts is a New Zealand sailor and sports administrator.
Roberts was born in 1935 in Takapuna, Auckland, New Zealand.
Roberts went to the 1960 Summer Olympics in Rome and competed in the Finn class, where he came sixth out of 35 competitors. He travelled to the 1964 Summer Olympics in Tokyo as a reserve for the Flying Dutchman crew of Helmer Pedersen and Earle Wells, who went on to win Olympic gold. At the 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico City, he came eighth in the Flying Dutchman class.
Roberts attended the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles as sailing manager, and his team won two gold medals and one bronze medal. Roberts was Chef de Mission for the 1992 New Zealand Olympic team in Barcelona.
Roberts presided over Yachting New Zealand from 1986 to 1989. He was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire in the 1993 Birthday Honours for services to yachting. Roberts holds several positions with the International Sailing Federation. He was appointed a life member of Yachting New Zealand in 2011.
Roberts still resides in Takapuna where his house fronts Lake Pupuke, and is a member of the Harbour Access Trust. Roberts described fellow Olympic sailor and North Shore resident, Geoffrey Smale, as his "best mate" after Smale died in a Dyn'Aéro microlight crash in 2011.
