Celebrating the 2026 TP52 Worlds, Kiel Week, and Bermuda Race winners
by David Schmidt 30 Jun 16:00 BST
June 30, 2026
2026 Newport Bermuda Race Start © Stephen Cloutier
While the mainstream sports world has been (rightly) dominated by the ongoing World Cup for the last couple weeks, the sailing world has also been delivering its share of high-level news. This started with teams competing in the Rolex TP52 World Championship, then progressed to one-design teams and Olympic hopefuls competing at Kiel Week, as well as teams thrashing their way to the onion patch in the 2026 Newport Bermuda Race. And, looking ahead, the sailing new cycle is set to continue rolling with the doublehanded teams competing in the ongoing Island Offshore Race to the Arctic 2026.
The Rolex TP52 Worlds took place in Porto Cervo, on Sardinia's northeastern flank, from June 15-20, and saw 15 teams from 11 nations compete for one of keelboat racing's highest-level trophies. After nine races, Takashi Okura's Sled team took top honors, followed by Joakim Sundberg's Trinity Racing squad, and Harm Müller-Spreer's Platoon Aviation team.
"For any team to win a world championship especially from such a tight regatta, like with five or six boats going into today with an opportunity to win, by having a really good last race that makes you feel really good," said Don Cowie, Sled's team manager and mainsail trimmer, in a regatta communication. "I think in that last race we finally started well when it really counted."
This win marks Okura's second TP52 World Championship title in the last five years (he also won in 2021), and his second successive win in the 2026 52 SUPER SERIES. But perhaps even more impressive, however, is the fact that second-place Trinity Racing are newcomers to the 52 SUPER SERIES this year.
"None of us can believe this is happening," said Ed Baird, who serves as Sundberg's tactician. "To have had our second and third race wins this early season and to finish strong like we did, it is fantastic. We just talked about how important it was t approach this race like any other, not to get excited, and the team did that. But if anyone had told we'd even have a chance to do this well going into this regatta I would have said 'you are crazy'."
Meanwhile, in one-design news, Kiel Week 2026, which unfurled from June 20-28 on the waters off of Kiel, Germany, saw racing play out in more than two dozen classes.
Standout American performances included the 420 class, where Melanie Lahrkamp and Estella Morris (USA) took first place, followed by fellow countrymen Anna Ulmer and Marin Redmond (USA) and Finn Grainger and Charlotte Crowley (USA) in second and third place, respectively, and the 49er class, where Americans Nevin Snow and Ian MacDiarmid took third place.
Canadian sailors were also successful in Germany, with Baabii'o Flower taking third place in the OK Dinghy class, and sisters Antonia and Georgia Lewin-LaFrance winning the 49erFX class.
"We're really proud to have won the regatta," said the Lewin-LaFrance sisters in a Sail Canada release. "It was great to get some racing in, and we also dialed the confidence up in our racing."
Impressively, this win marks the second gold-medal result for the Lewin-LaFrance sisters this year at a Sailing Grand Slam event.
Switching gears to offshore keelboat racing, the biennial Newport Bermuda Race began on June 19 on the waters off of Newport, Rhode Island, and saw almost 150 teams begin the famous thrash to the onion patch.
Favorable conditions enabled Remon Vos's supermaxi Black Jack 100 to dominate the race's 636-mile track, which they completed in just one day, 11 hours, 26 minutes, and 46 seconds to win the race's Gibbs Hill Lighthouse Division.
"It was a fast race with predominantly downwind conditions," said Black Jack 100's co-skipper, Jelmer van Beek, in an official race communication. "After the start, we sailed almost the entire course on starboard tack and enjoyed an average of 20 knots of breeze for most of the passage. The crew did an excellent job, constantly optimizing the sail plan and keeping the boat at full speed."
While this was a seriously fast passage to Bermuda, it was 48 minutes outside of the current course record, which was set by Commanche in the 2016 race.
The St. David's Lighthouse Division, which is the race's overall top handicap prize, went to Thomas Campbell's Cal 40 Nicole, which sailed the course in four days, three hours, one minute and 51 seconds, but which posted a corrected time of just two days, one hour, 33 minutes, and 18 seconds.
The Nicole crew were joined on the winner's podium by skipper Sheila McCurdy and her McCurdy & Rhodes 38 Selkie, which posted a corrected time of two days, one hour, 50 minutes, and 56 seconds, and by skipper Paul Jenning's Cal 40 Towhee, which posted a corrected time of two days, two hours, thirteen minutes, and two seconds.
Unfortunately, the race suffered scoring issues, which resulted in some confusion about the final standings. On June 25, US Sailing, which is heavily involved in the race, including with handicap and scoring, issued the following statement:
"US Sailing recognizes that the software-related issue affecting the corrected-time calculations in the 2026 Newport Bermuda Race has had a significant impact on competitors, race officials, and the broader sailing community. We sincerely apologize for the role we played in what was a complex and multifaceted situation.
The issue resulted from an error in the routing software used to generate the fleet's forecasted Time Correction Factors (TCFs). Once the issue was identified, race organizers, technical officials, and scoring personnel worked alongside US Sailing to verify the error and produce corrected-time calculations.
We are also aware of the International Jury's decision to reinstate the original results in accordance with the governing race documents.
From the moment the issue was identified, US Sailing worked proactively with the software provider, rating authorities, and race officials to understand the issue, validate the corrected calculations, and provide support throughout the process.
The use of TCFs is relatively new, and we will continue working closely with the software provider, rating authorities, race organizers, and other stakeholders to review what occurred, strengthen validation processes, and identify measures to help prevent similar issues in future events.
US Sailing remains committed to supporting race organizers with reliable technology, transparent processes, and fair competition standards."
(N.B., US Sailing is expected to publish and share a white paper that will provide additional information on the situation soon.)
Sail-World tips our hats to all teams that completed this challenging course, and we raise our glasses to all teams that posted good results in this classic offshore contest.
Finally, for fans of doublehanded sailing, make sure to tune your radars to the Island Offshore Race to the Arctic 2026. This 750 nautical mile race, which began on June 26 on the waters off of Mandal, Norway, is split into four legs that take teams to Svolvær, on the Lofoten archipelago.
While this race is dominated by European sail numbers that mostly begin with "NOR", North American interests are being well-represented by Americans Jonathan McKee and Justin Wolfe, who are racing aboard Red Ruby, their Sun Fast 3300.
As of this writing (Monday morning, U.S. West Coast time), the fleet had almost all finished the second leg, from Fedje to Kristiansund. That said, a glance at the schedule reveals a major challenge of this event, namely limited rest for the weary: Leg 3 (240 nautical miles), which takes the fleet from Kristiansund to Sandnessjøen begins on Wednesday, July 1, while the final leg (140 nautical miles), from Sandnessjøen to Svolvær, begins on Saturday, July 4.
Sail-World wishes all teams safe passage to Svolvær.
Finally, Sail-World wishes all Americans a happy Fourth of July. We sincerely hope that all American readers will have time over the long weekend to celebrate—and express gratitude for—the precious-yet-fragile gifts of democracy and freedom that our fine country has enjoyed for the last 250 years, and to carefully consider the kind of nation that we wish to leave for those who will be here to celebrate its 500th birthday.
May the four winds blow you safely home.
David Schmidt
Sail-World.com North American Editor