Merry Christmas and Thank You!
by Mark Jardine 25 Dec 01:00 GMT
The Famous Project CIC at Cape Leeuwin © The Famous Project CIC
I'd like to start by wishing you all a Happy Christmas, and hope that however you are celebrating, you are having fun with friends and family. Also I'd like to say a big thank you for choosing to get your fix of sailing news via our websites and YouTube channel. Without you all reading in record numbers throughout 2025, we wouldn't have anything. It means a lot.
It's hard to believe that twelve months ago we were in the thick of covering the Vendée Globe, producing daily videos and all the news as the incredible solo sailors battled it out around the world, taking offshore sailing to new heights. I was so pleased to see Charlie Dalin this week awarded The Ocean Race's Magnus Olsson Prize, in recognition of his outstanding contribution to sailing, both as a sailor, designer and the personal battle with a gastrointestinal stromal tumour which was diagnosed in late 2023. Dalin's affable nature makes him a pleasure to talk to, and his depth of knowledge is evident from the get-go in any conversation.
The year has been an exceptional one for sailing. SailGP has reached new heights in getting the sport out to a wider audience, albeit in a form which is very different to the one most of us practice. Regardless of what you think about the racing, and some of the venues, it is doing what sailing has never managed to do before, drawing huge crowds to events, and rapidly approaching a sustainable business model with big name sponsors and salaries to match. Before this year the whole idea of a 'transfer market' in sailing was a pipedream, but it is now something of a reality, with the top sailors being traded for large sums. This provides the aspiration for the next foiling generation. They can now see a route through to a career doing the kind of sailing they want to do. There have been big money careers in the industry for some time, working on superyachts and the like, but being properly paid for high-speed racing is now a reality.
Highlights of my own year have come from covering less high profile events, but in their own way just as important.
The Flying Fifteen World Championship at the Weymouth & Portland National Sailing Academy in the UK brought sailors from all around the globe, and proved that you can have top-level competition and a very healthy social scene at the same time. At the top of the rankings Graham Vials and Chris Turner put on a masterclass to take the win in style, in a fleet where Olympians were sometimes struggling to stay in the leading pack.
Back ashore, the sailors' stories gave clues as to how to grow sailing, with routes into the sport which I hadn't even thought about before hearing them. The Flying Fifteen may have been designed in 1948, but it's as relevant today as it ever was. The Uffa Fox timeless lines continue to look good, and even the quirky swept back keel somehow looks right. Combined with a few carefully thought out rigging and internal layout updates over the years, the boat is now much easier to sail as well.
The International Moth UK Championship was another event where somehow the sailors combined sailing what is an incredibly twitchy and blindingly fast boat with a decent social scene. Just getting out of the harbour in Torquay was a challenge, and the waves in Torbay gave new meaning to the phrase 'send it', with 100% commitment required on the downwind legs at 35+ knot speeds.
The recently-crowned SailGP season champion helm Dylan Fletcher has notched up some of the biggest prizes in sailing in recent years, with his Olympic gold medal in the 49er at Tokyo 2020, the International Moth Worlds title in 2022 and the Louis Vuitton Cup win as port helmsman in 2024, but he's more than happy to put it on the line at events in the Moth, and rightly believes that it helps him stay sharp in SailGP, continuing to practice what got him to the top in the first place.
Dylan is yet another sailing superstar who has stayed humble and is always open and engaging during a chat. Yes, he's confident at the moment, which he should be given his run of form, but that in no way comes across as arrogance. The tiny differences in performance at the very top of sport are often down to mindset, so retaining that balance is an extraordinary skill which few master.
It's remarkable how many of the greatest sailors retain that humility, and are always interested in all the latest goings-on in the sport. Keith Musto is a classic example of that, as the first winner of the Endeavour Trophy, the UK's dinghy champion of champions event, he was fully engrossed in the racing this year at Burnham on Crouch, and was more than happy to chat about everything happening elsewhere in the sailing world.
It does feel like the sailing season never truly stops globally, and the Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race exemplifies that perfectly. The traditional and iconic Boxing Day start in Sydney Harbour is another one of those moments for sailing to reach a far wider audience than just the hardcore sailing fans. With a slew of 100ft maxis competing this year it's going to be fascinating to watch, and John Curnow, our Australian editor, is heading up our comprehensive coverage of the race. Just as with the Vendée Globe, following the race on the tracker becomes addictive, but it's the stories behind each of the teams on the yachts which gives the race its colour, and John is a master of doing just that.
So my wish is for a spectacular and safe passage for all the sailors racing to Hobart, and wish you all a happy and prosperous 2026, with plenty of time on the water. Sailing can be an amazing sport to follow, but nothing beats doing it yourself and there's an amazing year of events ahead.
Mark Jardine
Sail-World.com and YachtsandYachting.com Managing Editor