Sail Web

The Dutch have been Contender enthusiasts from the earliest days of the class, and now for the first time, the Netherlands has a Contender World Champion, and it happened in Medemblik. Pim Van Vugt is the 2026 Contender World Champion, posting a consistent; 1, 2, 2, 1, 1 with a 4 discard to win by 6 pts from Mark Bulka of Australia with Graeme Willcox of Britain third – both former class world champions.

Violeta Alvarez’s GBR57 Erica has won the International Six Metre Classic Swiss Championship after posting a 2,3 scoreline in the two races sailed on the third and final day of the regatta on Lake Geneva. Having started the day at the top of the leaderboard, Alvarez went on to secure her Classic Championship victory by a margin of 18 points. Second was Andy Postle’s GBR33 Nirvana, with Esben Poulsson’s GRE2 Aera third.

The Italian pair won two gold medals – the overall Junior World Championship title and the Under-21 title. The silver medallists are Israel’s Roy Levy and Ariel Gral, while the bronze medals were won by France’s Lomane Valade and Julien Bunel. After score adjustment, Valade and Bunel went into the medal series as leaders with 25 pts, the Italian and Israeli teams were tied on 28 pts, and Amelie Wehrle and Riccardo Honold of Germany fourth with 37 pts. The other six crews were on 46 pts.

Emirates GBR SailGP Team has landed in Portsmouth and marked its arrival by abseiling one of the city’s most prominent landmarks – the Spinnaker Tower. Emirates GBR Wing Trimmer Stuart Bithell MBE and Development Sailor Kai Hockley took on the challenge of abseiling the 170-metre tower, and following the experience the pair both stated they preferred being on-board the Emirates GBR F50 race boat travelling at speeds of over 100km/h (54 kts).

Wilson finished with a win in the four-person final race, ahead of Aimee Bright of New Zealand with Marta Maggetti of Italy third. Islay Watson also made the final to finish 4th. In the men’s iQFOiL Britain’s Andy Brown made a great recovery to take Bronze in the four-person final. Kun Bi of China was the surprise winner, ousting Grae Morris of Australia who had dominated the qualification races.

After two races sailed in volatile and highly challenging conditions on Switzerland’s Lake Geneva, Eric Monnin’s SUI100 Duclop leads in the Open fleet, with Violeta Alvarez on GBR57 Erica topping the leaderboard in the Classics. In the Open fleet, Eric Monnin’s SUI100 Duclop chalked up a 1, 2 scoreline for the opening day. Second is Loic Forestier’s local Swiss boat SUI77 Junior, with a fourth and a first, tied on points with Dieter Schön’s IVB145 Momo in third after their 2, 3 score over the day.

The fleets had to wait a long time for the breeze to return, but in the end, the race committee managed to complete two races for the Gold Fleet and three races for the Silver Fleet. Going into the final day, the French team of Lomane Valade and Julien Bunel took the overall lead. Israel’s Roy Levy and Ariel Gal now in second place after a BFD in their score, and Lisa Vucetti and Vittorio Bonifacio of Italy remain in third place overall and continue to lead the U21 category.

The legal Rumble in the 38th America’s Cup jungle has surfaced again at the UK Admiralty Court, with new documents filed as part of Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s Ineos claim against Sir Ben Ainslie’s America’s Cup team Athena Racing. Sir Jim and Ineos are claiming that Ainslie’s, Athena Racing must hand over the ‘£180m boat’ [Britannia] they built together for the 37th America’s Cup.

The abandonment of all racing was due to light and unstable winds left in the wake of a thunderstorm cell that moved through the region in the early afternoon, bringing squalls and heavy rain. After attempting race starts, the race committee hoisted the AP over A flags to send the fleet ashore for the day. A change to the sailing instructions, means four races have been scheduled for Thursday – with the first start set for 11:00 hrs.

Just when you thought it was safe to assume that SailGP had reached a plateau and Russell Coutts would put his feet up. Hitting the screens is his latest subtlety titled 14 page document . . . 2030 strategy – Redefining Sailing. Coutt’s ambitious 2030 strategy outlines plans to grow the SailGp League with more teams, more events and millions of new fans around the world.