2026 Contender World Championship – a tale of two winds and all directions

2026 Contender World Championship – a tale of two winds and all directions
by Ed Presley and Steph Mah 18 Jul 10:48 PDT
4-10 July 2026

In 2025, the Contender fleet experienced one of the great events of the class with 170 boats crammed into the scenic Club Malcesine at Lake Garda, the mecca of European sailing.

It would have been a hard act to follow, but the 2026 venue was one with plenty of Contender history and also happened to demonstrate the fleet’s uncanny ability to be on trend with geopolitical events. For 2024, our Worlds took place in Florida, where we raced in the freshly anointed “Gulf of America”. The 2025 event had all tariffed continents being represented. And for 2026, from July 4 to July 10, we took “clog” (as in a certain straight) literally and raced in the Netherlands, the birthplace of the wooden shoe. Those who took part 11 year ago, at the same venue in the scenic town of Medemblik, remembered a regatta that was, like a certain American president’s address to NATO, cold, shallow, and blustery. This time around, at least things were warmer.

As is tradition, the lead up to the event saw a merry band with abundant vacation time travel around various European regattas to prepare. This included Lake Idro, Kieler Woche, and the Dutch nationals at Medemblik. The sailors sought to flex, hone and focus raw sailing talent into muscle memory, in some cases, in the blistering heat of a European record summer, this served to degrade, demoralize, and destroy sailing bodies. It’s just individual perspective.

The Dutch nationals/pre-worlds were a tasting menu of things to come. Over three days of competition, the conditions were what meteorologists call light, terrifying, and only slightly less terrifying. Dutch sailor Pim Van Vugt (rumoured to be not bad in a 49er), Australian and 2025 World Champion Mark Bulka, and British 2024 World Champion Graeme Wilcox were still going faster than all the rest, so basically the fleet demonstrated it had learnt nothing. Day two of the Dutch nationals was a hard lesson of how Medemblik can be nasty. In addition to the quickly building wind (starting at 20 knots and rocketing to 35), the chop with square edges (a product of the very shallow bottom) demonstrated it could easily put down the best sailor. Of the 50-boat fleet, only 14 finished the single race, with eight boats towed home either with damage or without a yotter on board. Two masts, one finger, a sail, an entire hull, and countless pairs of clean underwear were sacrificed, which is impressive as the Contender is hardly a fragile boat (unlike the egos of their owners).

Following this frivolity and good times, the fleet indulged in a bit of boat scrutiny for two days. All components were measured and inspected for cheating, none were found, and the whole affair was done in record time allow folks to wander and enjoy the picturesque Dutch town. Thank you again to Chief Measurer Chris Howe for imposing order on the chaos. Then there was one thing left for the 93 sailors to do – stop eating the stroopwaffel and go sailing.

Day one of the Worlds was ripping, with 20 to 25 knots right off the hop. There was clearly some PTSD happening as no one was rushing to get his or her boat into the water. In a canny strategic move, the 2025 World Champion Mark Bulka capsized right on the launching ramp to really put the dagger of fear into the hearts of those with any hesitation, and it worked with about one third of the fleet deciding to take a pass. As observed by a Danish competitor, it was telling of the conditions that the left side was favored by all in the first beat, and the right side in the second. In 2015, Brit Simon Mussell won his first World Championship. In 20+ knot winds, he is usually untouchable. But the first boat to the windward mark of the first race was his compatriot Ed Presley, who was obviously feeling so touched himself that he forgot to release the kicker at the gybe mark and swept himself off his boat. Had any of his competitors bothered to look instead of just passing him by, they would have noticed his hair was still perfect. As things progressed the first race became a two-way tussle between Van Vugt and Bulka, with Van Vugt flashing extra leg on the run to get in front, and Mussell recovering to third in a race he could have won.

Race two of the day appeared to go a similar way with Van Vugt and Bulka guarding the pin end and shooting out left, leaving Mussell to start further up the line to push right. Bulka chose to tack across the middle but it was Van Vugt who came into the buoy on port who got the benefit. Mussell’s untouchable upwind speed slowly ground down the two leaders and he was able to pip Van Vugt on the line, although on shore he was convinced he hadn’t, but the RO had obviously decided Mussell was better looking. Many capsizes, battles and aching were felt through the fleet, as the massive courses in difficult seas had done well for some and not well for others. Talk onshore was of another epic day to come.

Day two opened with sun and a forecast that was supposed to be the same as day one but was tad easier on the bones, or perhaps that’s just the effect of sun and the brain’s ability to delete trauma. The added bonus was some major shifts on the course that meant no one could bang the easy corner. Our usual trio were up there but now joined by Dutch sailor Paul Dijkstra and German doctor Eike Tjark Martens, the latter two tucked in behind all the way, but making big gains on the final upwind by sticking with the unpaying right. Dr Martens took the win from rounding about fifth at the leeward mark, Dijkstra took third, and Van Vugt kept his overall lead alive by taking second.

The second start on the day became another blow for blow race between Mussell and Van Vugt, with Van Vugt getting a decent lead by the bottom of the triangle and Mussell tailgating him up the beat like a 19-year-old Audi driver. But Van Vugt’s lead proved to be too much, and he was able to take race four, with Bulka keeping in touch with a third.

And that effectively ended the windy days as the forecast changed to light breezes. The fleet gathered to mourn the passing of Mussell’s second overall with well-wishers such as Germany’s light air demon Max Billerbeck, Wilcox, and Italy’s Mr. Congeniality Antonio Lambertini. Day three was the grand opening of Casino Medemblik, with a massively shifty 6-12 knots and holes everywhere. For many it was pick a side and find out if you hit the jackpot or needed to sell the family jewels. Often both sides could pay with those picking shift in the middle losing out, or none of those things. It was, however, consistent in who was out front, proving the cream always rises. Van Vugt had chosen the right (left) end of the line and pretty much led from the start to finish giving himself a third bullet and painting a target on his back. Once again Bulka stayed in touch to keep it interesting, and Aussie sailor Geoff Fisher had his best race in third.

Some new and expected names appeared at the front for race six, with the photogenic Dane Soren Dulong Andreasen choosing to go further left than most and making it work. Andreasen, Bulka, and Billerbeck lead a spread out fleet around in lessening breeze, and Billerbeck used his exceptional speed to take the win. After a long trip to shore the fleet were greeted by lumps of cheese served on the slipway. It seemed odd at the time, but it worked, and who needs beer anyway?

There is a saying that those who don’t study history are doomed to repeat it, and noted previously, Contenders aren’t a scholarly fleet. As it happened in 2015 where six races were successfully run (where we typically aim for 10), it would turn out that only six races would happen in 2026 as the wind never came in on day four and only came in at 3pm on day five, which was the same time as the cut off. But for the first time, the Dutch had a World Champion, and it was a gift for it to happen in their home country. Huge congrats to Pim Van Vugt who demonstrated remarkable consistency in all the conditions. Pim’s dedication to learning the Contender over the past few years has paid off. He prepared his boat and rig and mastered his boat handling, and there are strong bets he will be a repeat winner. Mark Bulka took a close second, and he will have to console himself with four world titles and the knowledge that he’s still the quickest on the reach. Graeme Wilcox had a quiet championship by his own standards as it was full of fourths and fifths, but he has vowed to unleash a spectacular and bloody revenge for the World Cup loss on all of Europe. Danish/German sailor Olga Henneberg handily repeated as the Women’s World Champion, Bulka won the Masters, Remco Riesthuis was the Junior World Champion, and Stuart Jones was the Grand Master, doing it in two boats no less.

The fleet is forever grateful to the Dutch Contender Association for spearheading another great event, to K.Z.& R.V. Hollandia, and to all the volunteers – on the race committee, on the launch ramp picking up and pushing out dollies and delivering cheese, and measuring. What an effort to make this a spectacular event.

The 2027 Contender Worlds will take place in Adelaide, Australia in January 2027. The Australian fleet want to reassure everyone they’ve tamed the crocodiles. And then the event goes back to the UK in July 2028 at Weymouth (with the unofficial tagline “bad food, bad weather, good beer”). It’s never too late to get into this great boat – just reach out to your national association and you won’t regret it.

Full results can be found here.