Tauranga sailor Jason Saunders and Murrays Bay sailor Gemma Jones make Olympic history when they begin their games later this week.

While Tauranga sailor Sam Meech is the first New Zealand sailor on the water in the Laser class tomorrow, Jason and Gemma are among 20 teams competing in the Olympic sailing's first mixed doubles event on Wednesday.

Jason Saunders and Gemma Jones. Photo: supplied.

They are sailing the Nacra 17, a catamaran designed for the new Olympic competition.

Jason Saunders, from the Tauranga Yacht & Powerboat Club, and team mate Gemma Jones have been sailing the new catamarans since the class was introduced in 2013.

They are among the younger teams in the class, and achieved fourth place at the Nacra World Championships in 2014 and a fifth at the 2015 Olympic Test Event in Rio.

It's Jason's second Olympics. At London in 2012 in the men's 470 class he came fifth sailing with Paul Snow Hansen.

Gemma's pre Nacra sailing was in 420s where she won the women's 2011 NZ Nationals and was second overall.

In 2012 Gemma was first in the Youth Hobie Nationals and second overall, and was selected to represent New Zealand at the IYRU Youth Worlds in the SL16 catamaran.

They are coached by Jez Fanstone, who believes having the entire New Zealand team spend plenty of time on the water in Rio will be key as Rio is a more tricky setting than Weymouth.

"It's a fantastic sailing venue. It has got a variety of winds ... we've had everything from 22 knots to 2 knots. It's got current which has to be factored and it has topography – big mountains and low-lying land," says Jez.

"Weymouth was a medium to heavy regatta and with Rio the currents are harder to predict and the winds can be lighter and more fickle, so you really need to be on your game.

"You really have to be a great all round sailor to come out on top."

The Nacra 17 is built to International Sailing Federation specifications for an agile high speed machine giving both sailors and spectators a spectacular close racing fleet.

It is a wave piercing design which has minimum draft resulting in a boat which has less drag and tends to rock less, creating a more constant high speed than conventional designs.

It is one of the stiffest production platforms available in its class resulting in a direct response in boatspeed to wind. It is lightweight, strong; built of epoxy, glass with a carbon fibre mast and modern high aspect ratio sails results in an agile and challenging boat to sail.

The curved foils – Nacra is the first company to successfully implement curved boards in production multihulls – Curved boards lift the weather bow out of the water reducing drag significantly – Creating pressure and flying hulls sooner.