In the history of the World Rowing Championships, 1978 was the only year when the lightweight rowing championships were not held in conjunction with the open men and women event; the lightweight events had already been held in Copenhagen, Denmark, in August.

[5] Don Rowlands, who had won rowing medals at British Empire and Commonwealth Games in the 1950s and would later become chairman of the 1978 World Rowing Championships organising committee, had lobbied for the event to come to New Zealand; prior to 1978, the event had always been held in the Northern Hemisphere.

As Rowlands was a marine engineer, he designed the starting pontoon himself[4] and the construction was carried out by James Hill, a former Olympic rower who was a joiner by trade.

[4] Former British rower Dickie Burnell, who worked at Karapiro as a correspondent for The Times, labelled the event "the greatest show on water".

[8][9] The event made a profit of NZ$155,000, which was used to fund a rowing foundation.

In all other boat classes, the first from each heat qualified for the final, with the other finalists determined via a repechage.

In all other boat classes, the winner of each heat qualified for the final and all other finalists were determined via a repechage.