The final day of the 2026 49er, 49erFX, and Nacra 17 European Championships turned out to be the hardest of the whole regatta, and in the end it was the one day the Baltic refused to play along.
The Nacra 17 fleet launched on time for a midday start and spent the next three and a half hours on the water, starting race after race that had to be abandoned as the conditions kept falling apart. While the Nacras waited out there, the 49erFX fleet, last in the schedule, had their day cancelled ashore.
The 49ers were sent out to try their luck, but they too were called back without a single completed race. By mid afternoon the race committee accepted what the water had been telling everyone all day. There would be no racing, and the standings from Saturday night would decide the titles.
It is a strange way to end a championship, but it takes nothing away from the teams who spent five days earning their place at the top.
49erFX: Canada Does It Again
For the second year in a row, Georgia and Antonia Lewin-LaFrance (below) are Open European Champions. The Canadian sisters won this event in Thessaloniki last summer and repeated it here in Eckernförde with a week of typically relentless sailing, saving their best day for the last day of racing when they posted a 3, 1, 1 to take the overall lead. Once again they simply refused to have a bad day when it mattered.
And once again, the European title itself goes to Marla Bergmann and Hanna Wille. Just like last year, the German pair finish as the top European boat, this time in second place overall, and doing it at home in front of their own crowd makes it even sweeter.
France's Mathilde Lovadina and Lou Berthomieu, the new pairing who climbed the leaderboard all week long, take third overall and the Vice European Champion title, a remarkable result in their first season together. Poland's Aleksandra Melzacka and Sandra Jankowiak complete the European podium with bronze.
49er: Kiwis Keep Winning Everything They Enter
Seb Menzies and George Lee Rush are Open European Champions. Written down like that it sounds simple, but consider what it means. The New Zealanders won this title in Thessaloniki last year, won the World Championship in Quiberon this spring, and have now won in Eckernförde too. They barely race in Europe outside the major championships, and every time they show up, they leave with the trophy. Right now they are the most dangerous team in the fleet and without question the ones to beat.
What makes it even more impressive is that Menzies is doing all of this at just 21 years old, while also driving in the America's Cup. Juggling both worlds at that age is hard to imagine, and yet here we are.
James Grummett and Rhos Hawes led this championship for most of the week and finish second overall, which crowns them European Champions, a first major title for the British pair and one that has been coming for a long time.
Poland's Mikołaj Staniul and Jakub Sztorch take third overall and the Vice European Champion title, while the German crowd got one more reason to cheer as Richard Schultheis and Fabian Rieger, fourth overall, claim the European bronze.
Nacra 17: Heartbreak and History
The Nacra 17 fleet spent the longest day on the water and got nothing back for it, and for one team the cancellation stung more than for anyone else.
Sweden's Emil Järudd and Hanna Jonsson (above) are the 2026 European Champions. They earned it the hard way, sailing a patient, consistent week and pouncing on Saturday when the long time leaders finally cracked. After winning the overall trophy at the Princess Sofia earlier this year, this title confirms what everyone in the fleet already suspected. The Swedes have arrived at the very top of the class.
John Gimson and Anna Burnet could not quite defend their crown but finish as Vice European Champions after a charging final few days that included four race wins across Friday and Saturday.
And then there is the Dutch story. Willemijn Offerman and Scipio Houtman led this regatta from the first gun on Tuesday until Saturday afternoon. One bad day cost them the yellow jersey, and with no racing on Sunday there was no way to take it back.
They finish with the bronze medal, and it is fair to say it is not the colour they hoped for as the regatta went on. It is a cruel way to end the week, but this team has so much to be proud of. They showed real dominance through the regatta, they announced themselves as genuine title contenders, and if this week proved anything, it is that their time is coming.
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France’s La Roche-Possay America’s Cup challenger capsized their AC75 during training on July 8 in Lorient, France. The capsize, put down to a systems failure by the team, saw the boat on its side for a prolonged period and resulted in an internal fire.
Nobody was reported injured in the incident – which took place in 15 knot breezes and flat water – and the boat was later successfully righted and returned to the dock.
The capsize happened after the team had conducted several fast upwind runs and was heading downwind at around 35 knots when the crew is believed to have lost control of the onboard systems. The boat went into a slow turn, and with the mainsheet traveller pinned out on the starboard side, a capsize was inevitable.
The Uber ORC B class will gather in the Bay of Palma the reigning ORC World Champion together with the winners of the Conde de Godó Trophy, Sandberg PalmaVela and the SM La Reina Trophy, setting the stage for one of the most open title battles of the 44 Copa del Rey Mapfre.
Uber ORC B is once again set to be one of the most competitive classes at the Copa del Rey Mapfre. Twenty-four yachts from ten nations will line up in the Bay of Palma, including the reigning ORC World Champion and the winners of this season’s major regattas, making it one of the most exciting and closely contested classes of the 44th edition.
The boat to beat will be Argentina’s Katara, owned by Julián Somodi, the reigning 2026 ORC World Champion. The team arrives in Palma after winning the Conde de Godó Trophy and finishing runner-up at the recent SM La Reina Trophy, results that firmly establish it as the favourite.
Among its strongest challengers are Fórmula X, owned by Rodrigo Sanz, winner of Sandberg PalmaVela; Ebury, owned by Javier Sabiote, fresh from victory at the SM La Reina Trophy; Teatro Soho-San Miguel, owned by Javier Banderas, an eight-time Copa del Rey Mapfre winner and 2024 Abanca ORC 0 champion; Great Britain's Kine, owned by Sean McCarter; and Mágica, owned by Marco Comas, completing a remarkably strong line-up of title contenders.
Beyond the quality of the fleet, the class will once again provide a benchmark for the performance of the XR 41 design. The yacht dominated the 2025 ORC World Championship, but this season has faced significantly stronger competition. Although several XR 41s reached the podium at the 2026 Worlds, they were unable to repeat the level of dominance displayed a year earlier.
For Manu Fraga, General Manager of Real Club Náutico de Palma, organiser of the Copa del Rey Mapfre, the class's greatest attraction lies in its competitiveness: “Uber ORC B is probably the most evenly matched fleet in the entire Copa del Rey Mapfre. It brings together the reigning World Champion, the winners of the season’s major regattas and several projects of a very similar standard, meaning that every race could prove decisive. It is a class where every mistake comes at a high price, guaranteeing a spectacular contest in the Bay of Palma.
One of the main storylines will be the return of Javier Banderas to the Uber ORC B class. The Málaga owner returns to the division where he built much of his remarkable Copa del Rey Mapfre record, having won eight titles before spending recent seasons in Abanca ORC 0, where he claimed victory in 2024.
“We're delighted to return to Uber ORC B because it has always been an incredibly competitive class. At this year’s Copa del Rey Mapfre we'll be racing against an outstanding fleet, including the reigning World Champion and teams that, like us, know what it takes to win this regatta,” said Banderas.
The Teatro Soho-San Miguel owner also highlighted the extensive preparation carried out over recent months: “We've completed a great deal of testing and training, and we've drawn some very positive conclusions. Now it's time to race and find out exactly where we stand on the water. Every edition of the Copa del Rey Mapfre is different, and that's precisely what makes it so special.”
Another leading contender is Ebury, owned by Javier Sabiote (Marina Salinas San Pedro), which arrives in Palma full of confidence after winning the SM La Reina Trophy and finishing runner-up at the Conde de Godó Trophy, confirming its excellent form.
The list of title challengers is completed by Great Britain's Kine, owned by Sean McCarter, an Infiniti GT36 that enjoyed a spectacular duel with Fórmula X throughout Sandberg PalmaVela before finishing just one point behind the winner, and Mágica, owned by Marco Comas (Club Nàutic El Masnou), an X-41 that has put together a remarkably consistent season, finishing third at Sandberg PalmaVela, fourth at the Conde de Godó Trophy and ninth at the SM La Reina Trophy.
With such an exceptional concentration of talent and recent success, Uber ORC B promises to be one of the standout classes of the 44th Copa del Rey Mapfre, where consistency and the ability to avoid mistakes are once again expected to prove decisive in the fight for the title.
France’s Valerian Lebrun (above) is the half time leader in the inaugural World Tour for Finns Grand Slam Series after the first four legs have been completed. 206 sailors have so far taken part in at least one of the events, with a further five events to come. Bas de Waal, from The Netherlands is second with former World No.1 Laurent Hay, from France in third.
The inaugural WTF Grand Slam 2026 is a European-focused circuit launched by the International Finn Association, featuring nine events across eight nations from April to October. With the best four results counting toward the overall ranking, the series will ultimately lead into the Grand Final at the 2027 Finn Gold Cup in La Rochelle.
Points are scaled from 100 points for a win to 10 points for last, with two events counting at present to the total score. While only 16 sailors have competed at more than one event so far, this is expected to increase as the series heads to northern Europe over the coming months.
Leg 1: Grand Slam Palamos
The 2026 WTF Grand Slam opened in Palamos in Spain with the Mediterranean Finn Cup, from 17-19-April. It was not an easy start with no wind on day one. But sailing always finds a way to reward perseverance. By the final day, conditions delivered, three races sailed in a steady 15 knots, offering a spectacular close to the regatta and a proper test for the fleet. At the end of the series, it was Valerian Lebrun who claimed victory, followed by Laurent Hay in second and Paul McKenzie completing the podium.
1 FRA 111 Valerian Lebrun 7
2 FRA 75 Laurent Hay 13
3 AUS 22 Paul McKenzie 21
4 SUI 59 Simon Bovay 30
5 ESP 161 Miguel Fernandez Vasco 32
6 ESP 71 Xavier Penas 34
7 SUI 37 Ivan Zhukalin 36
8 ESP 7 David Terol 36
9 FRA 96 Florian Faucheux 38
10 ITA 30 Andrea Lino 40
Leg 2: Grand Slam Cannigione
The second leg took the fleet to stunning venue of Cannigione, on Sardinia, for the Italian Championship. A fleet of 53 boats took part from 30 May - 1 June. With the new world champion Alessandro Marega winning seven of the eight races, it was another dominant performance, while the other race was won by Bas de Waal. Light to medium warm breezes gave the fleet some great competitive sailing in a beautiful location at what was undoubtedly one of the stand out venues of the series.
1 ITA 1103 Alessandro Marega 7
2 NED 29 Bas de Waal 27
3 SUI 7 Christoph Burger 27
4 ITA 115 Roberto Strappati 28
5 ITA 30 Andrea Lino 42
6 GER 323 Jonas Jung 56
7 ITA 45 Nicol Capriglione 62
8 ITA 872 Nicola Menoni 80
9 GER 60 Thilo Durach 81
10 BRA 11 Robert Rittscher 85
Leg 3: Grand Slam Gdynia
Martijn van Muyden, from The Netherlands, was the very popular winner at the Open Finn European Championship in Gdynia, Poland. It turned into a high scoring series with a lot of light wind days and very challenging conditions. Even going into the final race, it was wide open, and no one really knew who had won. The new World No. 1, Peter Peet, had a chance to win, leading into the final race, but picked up too many points and ended third, while defending champion Valerian Lebrun, missed the title by one point.
1 NED 60 Martijn Van Muyden 37
2 FRA 111 Valerian Lebrun 38
3 NED 148 Peter Peet 42
4 POL 77 Michał Krasodomski 44
5 NED 29 Bas De Waal 56
6 CZE 54 Matouš Červenka 56
7 HUN 50 Akos Lukats 58
8 HUN 911 Elemer Haidekker 62
9 POL 13 Tadeusz Bartlewski 63
10 FRA 75 Laurent Hay 64
Leg 4: Grand Slam Brixham
The fourth leg was the Vaikobi British National Championship at Brixham YC, held from 3-5 July with 35 entries. Former Olympic campaigner and coach to Giles Scott, Matt Howard was dominant, winning five of the eight races sailed in very hot and sunny tropical conditions and generally light and very shifty winds. Returning Peter McCoy was the next most consistent in the challenging conditions while the final race win for defending champion, Lawrence Crispin, moved him up to third overall.
1 GBR 550 Matt Howard 11
2 GBR 188 Peter McCoy 26
3 GBR 74 Lawrence Crispin 31
4 AUS 2 Rob McMillan 46
5 GBR 5 John Greenwood 49
6 GBR 64 Cameron Tweedle 51
7 GBR 799 Jack Acton 52
8 GBR 8 Tim Carver 55
9 GBR 24 Nick Craig 60
10 GBR 2 Allen Burrell 65
With near photo finishes, calms, strong winds, sudden gusts, joy, terror and some amazing scenery, this year’s Aegean 600 was like a mini round the world race for the 10 maxi yachts competing within the record-sized fleet of 71.
The Aegean 600 was again organised by the Hellenic Offshore Racing Club (HORC) and Olympic Marine and was the penultimate event in the International Maxi Association’s 2025-26 Mediterranean Maxi Offshore Challenge. This, the sixth edition, set sail from the Sounion Peninsula at 1400 on Sunday 5 July with the maxi fleet finishing the anticlockwise lap of the Aegean 600 over the course of Tuesday and Wednesday, following a generally faster race than anticipated.
A fantastic race took place for line honours with Claudio Demartis’ longer, sleeker 90ft Prosecco DOC Shockwave³ having to fend off George Procopiou’s wider, more powerful VO70 Aiolos and both having to keep a keen eye on the modern 50 footers Palanad 4 and Daguet 5 that at times were up with the maxi leaders. The 90 footer finally shook off the opposite when she was first out of the lee of Rhodes, late on Monday morning (when Daguet 5 was second on the water).
After the ‘upwind’ third section of the course, by the northeasterly turning mark at Agathonissi she had extended to 17 miles. However on the lengthy reaching leg west back to the finish, Aiolos, on her optimum point of sail, reeled in her opponent. In a nail-biting finish, Prosecco DOC Shockwave³ crossed the line on Tuesday at 14:08:27 to take line honours in an elapsed time of 2 days 8 minutes 27 seconds, Aiolos just 2 minutes 9 seconds behind.
For the leader there was drama from the start. As helmsman Lorenzo Bressani explained: “The Meltemi was blowing very hard and in the first 10 minutes we exploded a spinnaker. So then we had to use the smallest spinnaker.” Then on the first night, during the windiest part of the race where competitors saw 40+ knots, they tore their A5 gennaker in a 30-35 knot gust. “It was hard not to break anything in that,” recounted navigator Andrea Micalli. “We got our top speed of 29.5 knots before it broke…”
Prosecco DOC Shockwave³ came fresh from setting a new course record in the Brindisi-Corfu race. Some of her mixed crew of pros and amateurs, had taken part in previous editions of the Aegean 600, however many had not and in the big conditions, which peaked at 37 knots off Kasos, their round the world race veteran boat captain Stefano Spangaro, took command of the manoeuvres - delicate procedures in the gale force conditions.
According to Micalli, they won the race thanks to being first free themselves from the wind hole in the lee of Rhodes. “That was the turning point of the whole race - we gained almost 10-12 miles from there.”
While Aiolos was unable to secure a third consecutive monohull line honours, she defended her IRC Maxi class title by 7 hours 13 minutes, ahead of Prosecco DOC Shockwave³ and the Polish-crewed VO65 Big Sky, skippered by Vendée Globe skipper Zbigniew Gutkowski in third.
“It’s bitter sweet to finish second [on line honours] when it is so close,” said Aiolos navigator Konrad Lipski. “But our result is very good. We’re tired, but happy.”
As predicted before the race, Aiolos made gains on the reaching legs. Compared to the forecast, Lipski felt: “overall the first half of the race was lighter, and the finish stronger - the Meltemi was dying, but we were finished in 14 knots average.” The most wind they saw was 42-43 knots off Kasos, where they broke a downhaul – the extent of their breakage.
During the tense final reach they had benefitted from past experience and local knowledge within their team, including tactician Olympic 470 bronze medallist Panagiotis Mantis. A key moment came when Aiolos passed to the weather side of the race’s second last island, Gyaros, in stronger breeze while her opponent took the shorter route to its lee. At this point Aiolos was sailing some 4 knots faster. “We wanted to pass this area of no wind, in full power reaching mode. We deployed our masthead kite first, then Prosecco attacked - it was super fun,” continued Lipski.
Chartered to a crew led by Mauro Montefusco, the 78ft Nice (ex-Capricorno), finished at 04:55 this morning, followed 36 minutes later by Márton Józsa 60ft DSS yacht Wild Joe, claiming Maxi class fourth and fifth.
The lower-rated maxis had the hardest time at the finish, the Meltemi having disappeared. “It took us four hours to do the last three miles,” confided Stratis Andreadis, who’s Garcia 86 Meliti arrived at 11:40 this morning taking seventh place.
“The race had an epic quality to it,” continued Andreadis. “Like one of the old Whitbreads [Round the World Race] it started downwind in 20-25 knots with big seas (for the Aegean anyway). Then there was this magical evening when we saw the sunset over Santorini. Then it was into the ‘Roaring 40s’ and ‘Screaming 50s’ of Kasos and Karpathos, where our new staysail tack blew off - in true Whitbread style, we screwed it back together with Dyneema.” Here they saw 48-50 knots and under double-reefed main their giant yacht had broached.
“Then we had a little Doldrums off Rhodes where we were becalmed for a few hours, as we were under Simi. Towards Kandelioussa, it was just horrible upwind with the whole mast shaking. On the reach we saw 38 knots under Ikaria and last night was playing with whatever breeze was there. Before Kandelioussa we were abeam of Hagar V and she ended up 40 miles behind us. We were about 40 miles behind Varuna but caught up with her and got 5-6 miles ahead of her. She ended up finishing about 100m behind us.” While Meliti was becalmed Varuna came in with breeze.
“It's different to other races because you have a lot of different wind strengths - you have to be a really sharp sailor to get through it,” Andreadis concluded, promising to return. “It's a great credit to the Hellenic Offshore Racing Club who designed this course.”
The prize-giving will take place on Saturday evening (11 July) where Prosecco DOC Shockwave³ and Aiolos will receive their trophies and Aiolos’ George Procopiou will be once again awarded the George Andreadis Challenge Trophy for the top IMA member.
The IMA’s Mediterranean Maxi Offshore Challenge will conclude with the Palermo-Montecarlo race starting on 18 August.
