Hansa UK National Championships 2026 at the Weymouth & Portland National Sailing Academy
by David Durston 15 Aug 17:48 BST
17-19 July 2026
Windward mark rounding during the Hansa UK Nationals at the WPNSA © Chris Hargreaves
This year's Hansa National Championships were held as part of the Inclusive Games which were hosted by WPNSA with support from the RYA and Chesil Sailability. The event combined the Hansa class nationals, the Challenger class nationals, and sailing for both deaf and blind groups.
Eight Libertys lined up for the event. Paul Philips opened strongly, leading Race 1 until weed slowed him and David Durston snatched the win. David then controlled Race 2 from the start.
Light winds shaped day two. Mike Everitt won the morning race, with David second and Paul pushed to fourth by a late charge from Paul Pearson. After a course reset, Paul took 2nd behind Mike and ahead of newcomer James Woosnam, with David closing fast but finishing fourth.
Race 5 was another win for Mike, with James taking the inside at the final mark to beat David, while Paul's rare mistake sent him to start an extra lap and put him down to fifth. Mike's success on day 2 gave the overnight scores of Mike 6, David 7, Paul 10.
Paul fought back on the final morning with a decisive win, while Paul Pearson grabbed second and Mike third. That left Mike on 9, David and Paul on 11 going into the last race.
Mike delivered when it mattered, winning the final race and the national championship. David edged Paul by inches to secure second overall.
In the 11 strong 303 1-person fleet, Rory McKinna again demonstrated why he is a world champion contender, taking 1st in every race. The battle of for second third and fourth was more closely fought.
On day one, there was some confusion on the start sequence, unfortunately Margaret Foreman had not noticed that the race officer had decided to build in a gap between the liberty finish and the start of the countdown for the 303 singles. This meant starting the event with two scores of OCS, a big deficit to be made up. Her consistent, top 4 results across all of the remaining races enabled her to achieve a podium place, pipping Phil Monk to 3rd place on count back. Both finished on net 28, but Phil's results had been more erratic.
In second place, Sophie Brisley built on her 3rd place in 2025. Sophie achieved 5 second places, a 3rd, and a disappointing 6th which was her discard, finishing with a net 13, justifying her position over Margaret.
In the 303 2-person fleet the winning spot was again taken by Lynne and Stuart Swann with 7 1sts. The fight for the other 2 podium spots was much closer; all 5 of the other teams achieved at least one top 3 places across the 7 races. As with the Liberty fleet it came down to the last race, with Lara and Katy and Sue and Rick Jillings both on 16 points after discards. Lara having previously sailed in the 2.3 fleet held her nerve with Katy, taking 2nd, two ahead of their rivals.
Unfortunately there were only 2.3 entries so their races were run alongside the 303 2-person class. That was again won by Lindsay Burns over Andrew Lebec.
Overall Results:
| Pos | Helm | Club | R1 | R2 | R3 | R4 | R5 | R6 | R7 | Pts |
|---|
| 2026 Hansa UK Nationals Liberty |
|---|
| 1 | Mike Everitt | Frensham Pond Sailability | 3 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 10 |
| 2 | David Durston | Whitefriars Sailing Club | 1 | 1 | 2 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 2 | 13 |
| 3 | Paul Phillips | Frensham Pond Sailability | 2 | 2 | 4 | 2 | 5 | 1 | 3 | 14 |
| 4 | Paul Pearson | Rutland Sailing Club/Sailability | 4 | 3 | 3 | 6 | 4 | 2 | 4 | 20 |
| 5 | James Woosnam | Frensham Pond Sailability | 6 | 4 | 5 | 3 | 2 | 5 | 5 | 24 |
| 6 | Mary Duffy | Bray Sailing Club
Ireland | 5 | 6 | 8 | 5 | 7 | 8 | 7 | 38 |
| 7 | Tessa Watkiss | Frensham Pond Sailability | 8 | 7 | 6 | 8 | 6 | 6 | 8 | 41 |
| 8 | Terry Hewlett | Whitefriars Sailing Club | 7 | 8 | 7 | 7 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 42 |
| 2026 Hansa UK Nationals 303 1 Person |
|---|
| 1 | Rory McKinna | Clyde Cruising Club | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 6 |
| 2 | Sophie Brisley | Whitefriars Sailing Club | 2 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 6 | 2 | 2 | 13 |
| 3 | Margaret Foreman | Frensham Pond Sailability | CS) | CS) | 2 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 28 |
| 4 | Phil Monk | Whitefriars Sailing Club | 4 | 4 | 8 | 3 | 2 | 9 | 7 | 28 |
| 5 | Leslie Philip | Tideway Sailability (London) | 5 | 5 | 4 | 7 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 29 |
| 6 | Jayleigh Tilley | Whitefriars Sailing Club | 3 | 3 | 5 | 5 | 10 | 7 | 9 | 32 |
| 7 | Katie Apse | Frensham Pond Sailability | CS) | CS) | 6 | 6 | 8 | 4 | 3 | 39 |
| 8 | Rebecca Willcox | Whitefriars Sailing Club | CS) | CS) | 7 | 9 | 5 | 6 | 5 | 44 |
| 9 | Richard Rochester | Whitefriars Sailing Club | CS) | 6 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 10 | 10 | 50 |
| 10 | Nia Faulder | Leigh & Lowton SC | 6 | NS) | 11 | 10 | 9 | 8 | 8 | 52 |
| 11 | Ellie Scott | Chesil Sailability | CS) | ET) | 10 | 11 | 11 | 11 | 11 | 66 |
| 2026 Hansa UK Nationals 303 2 Person |
|---|
| 1 | Lynne Swan | Frensham Pond Sailability | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 6 |
| 2 | Lara Sturgis | Frensham Pond Sailability | 4 | 4 | 2 | 5 | 2 | 4 | 2 | 18 |
| 3 | Rick Jillings | Carsington Sailing Club | 3 | 2 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 4 | 20 |
| 4 | Kim Davies | Frensham Pond Sailability | 5 | 5 | 6 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 23 |
| 5 | Philip Hall | Chesil Sailability | 2 | 3 | 3 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 5 | 25 |
| 6 | Kiran Wade | Uni of Lincs/NCSC | 6 | 6 | 5 | 2 | 5 | 2 | 6 | 26 |
| 2026 Hansa UK Nationals 2.3 |
|---|
| 1 | Lindsay Burns | Frensham Pond Sailability | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | NS) | 6 |
| 2 | Andrew Lebec | Frensham Pond Sailability | 2 | NS) | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 11 |
