Worlds Allocation
Because of the large entry expected for the World championships in Kiel at the beginning of July 2026 the Class will have an entry allocation, this is a very difficult thing to do fairly, but we have used the 2025 entry numbers to create the allocation system. It is extremely important to have fair racing for all the championship fleets and we are restricted in Kiel to the three inner race areas for consistent race conditions, this is combined with restricting fleet sizes for safety reasons.
There are no entry restrictions for the 2026 European Championships on Lake Lipno in the Czech Republic. It is possible that we will have an entry restriction on the Worlds in 2027 in Marseille.
For the coaches – Championship Course Areas for 2026
For the World Championships there will be THREE Course areas, for the European Championships we are planning TWO course areas, but if entries are higher than we estimate this may be increased to THREE, however any change will be confirmed by 14th June 2026.
Entering the World Championships
We will be sending out a detailed document in early January describing how the entry system for the World Championships will operate. In short, each National Class Association (NCA) will receive a number of vouchers matching their allocation which will be used by each boat to enter using our normal entry system. Each NCA will decide who will be selected to represent their country.
Coaching and Development Manager
We are pleased to announce the appointment of Larry Cargill from Australia as the new Class Coaching and Development Manager. Larry will be assisted by Fede Garcia from Argentina / Spain and Hiroki Goto from Japan. Larry attended the recent Youth Worlds supporting all boats and will be at the upcoming Asian Championships in Hong Kong and Asian Games in Japan.
Andrea – Media Manager
We have recently welcomed Andrea Dall’Ora to our media team – she is working alongside Alexia Lahoud covering the Class daily media and events. 2025 Media has been a great success, enabling the Class to onboard Kidzink sponsorship and helping us to grow our global reach significantly. Alexia and Andrea will continue to cover as much global 29er action as possible into 2026 so please make sure to include the class in all of your media and email us any information to share.
Progress on Jib
Over the last couple of years, considerable feedback has been received that the longevity of jibs lags behind expectations. Jib testing had been started in a voluntary and un-controlled manner by several parties outside the Class. The Technical Committee, led by VP Csaba Cserep, have taken on this project, several modifications have been proposed and jib testing is being performed under centralised control and with scientific rigour. The TC is continuing to work closely with Federico Garcia who is overseeing the testing process in Europe, alongside Mike Sanderson in NZ and our sailmaker Ian MacDiarmid. Testing is well underway with very promising results. The test configuration is two boat testing, comparing reference and test jibs, ensuring fully identical conditions (wind, wave, usage time, number and type of manoeuvres, etc.) and all results are logged and documented. Testing will continue into the first half of 2026.
Executive Minutes
The minutes of the Executive meeting held on 12th December are published on the Class website.
EuroCup
The latest EuroCup calendar is published on the Class website. For 2026 we are planning to hold the Final in the Netherlands in Medemblik in October and we will release the Notice of Series as soon as everything is confirmed. The plan is to have an additional event in Malcesine, Garda in May 2026 (TBC).
Future Championship bids
The World Championships 2027 will be held in Marseille in France at the 2024 Olympic venue, dates 3rd to 10th July. We have received two bids to hold the European Championships which are being evaluated by the Executive Committee. We are waiting for bids for the Worlds and Europeans in 2028.
Strategic Review
The Class has been working hard on collating the results from the recent strategic review and will publish the findings summary in early 2026. Thank you to all who completed the survey as part of the strategic review.
Executive Director Assistant
The Class is currently in the process of recruiting an admin and events assistant to support the Executive Director who we plan to bring onboard in early 2026.
Sponsorship
The class are actively looking for sponsors and suppliers so if you have any contacts or are able to help us with this please reach out to office@29er.org.
Pippa Kenton Page
Executive Director