Contender World Championship 2025 at Fraglia Vela Malcesine - Overall

The 2025 Contender World Championship will be remembered. It was beautiful, frustrating, epic, voluminous, historic, and overflowing with talent - a once in a generation competition. With 167 boats from 12 nations crowding the start line, its attendance was second only to the 2013 Worlds in Gravedona on the neighbouring Lake Como, an event also steeped in Contender lore with over 170 entries.

The 2025 competition was razor-sharp, culminating in a three-way tie at the top, a feat that may be unprecedented in Contender history (and maybe the history of any world championship). This ending was not so surprising with seven previous world champions and three European champions and some well pedigreed new sailors to the fleet.

The arrival

Fraglia vela Malcesine is a stunning sailing club, with a lush grass roof, charming bistro, and perfect view of the alps. Boats and sailors arrived well before the event to squeeze every last drop of Garda out. Italy, Germany and the UK were particularly well-represented, and the indomitable Aussies shipped two containers and had 29 entries, some of whom had been lollygagging their way around Italy for weeks before the World Championships.

During the pre-world races, the Australians gave a good show having had time to adjust to the local customs and excellent coffee.

Ominously, the pre-worlds were won by local hotshot Marco Ferrari in his cherry red boat (see: nominative determinism). The cornerstones of Ferrari's performance were good starts and a sixth sense about where to go in various breeze strengths. A smile would finish the look, but alas...

Once the pre-worlds concluded, 170 boats ramming themselves into a space made for 20 created some Tetris-style logistics, and this was further complicated by the needs of the pesky measurement team. UK contender sailor and chief measurer Chris Howe ably managed to pressgang members of the UK association (who love a process) to assist in the detail checking of all of the things, and his clear standards made the measurement process tick along with only minor casualties and some tears.

The only thing left to do was race.

Contender Worlds 2025 at Fraglia Vela Malcesine - photo © Fabrizio Prandini

The racing

Day 1 was set to start at 1pm, so the Ora (the South wind) was needed to bring joy to sailors, and joy was plentiful as it transpired. To get 170 boats squeezed onto a start line, the traditional two fleet split occurred with the sailors allocated fairly into four colour groups that would alternate to meet each other.

With a 12-14 knots across the course, the balance between heavy and light sailors was even, and there went the ability to blame excessive lard or Ozempic bodies.

Going to the left was considered to be "the way", and as it turned out, left was "the way". Getting there was a race to the shore, but go too far and light sloppy winds awaited you, while everyone else enjoyed the wind bend into the mark on port. This made the beats very consistent and easy, until the second race where going right suddenly became beneficial, as is the Law of the Sod.

Paul Verhallen (NED) used his inland upbringing to find the route to a first and third that would land him the overall lead. This performance was matched in points by Antonio Lambertini (ITA) with double seconds.

As is now tradition, the host club provided pasta and beer to either enhance or drown the reflections on the day's performance, and sitting next to Lake Garda in the warm sun made all things good in the world.

Contender Worlds 2025 at Fraglia Vela Malcesine - photo © Fabrizio Prandini

Day 2's start was also to send sailors into the Ora, and once again the day looked sunny and promising, but unfortunately the wind decided it didn't want to give its all, mustering only five to eight knots. Left still paid but was harder to nail. This gave some opportunities to see new faces at the front, in particular former World Champ Max Billerbeck (GER) who walked away with two bullets that launched him into the top three. A new challenge also emerged, that being tacking for the windward mark only to find it wasn't where you left it. Let this be a warning that automated GPS marks are amazing, but they will kill again if left unsupervised.

Day 3 opened with overcast skies and drizzle - classic Garda did not look promising, but as the sun came out, a hint of wind appeared and the RO jumped on it, sending 170 boats out through slips the size of a large car. The first logistical miracle happened when a race was started. The second miracle was when the racing was abandoned as the wind had completely dropped. Go Home shouted the RO and 170 boats were towed back to the club and recovered through a slip the size of a large farmyard animal. To put this uneventful day behind us, the class enjoyed another rowdy social occasion that demonstrated that Australians can't dance but will try (and still fail miserably) if the beer is strong enough.

Contender Worlds 2025 at Fraglia Vela Malcesine - photo © Fabrizio Prandini

Day 4 found the fleet split into gold and silver fleet for the final two days of racing. Having missed a day of racing the qualification series had ended prematurely meaning that there would be zero discards, this resulted in some big names being cut from the Gold, anyone with letters in their score would find it hard to qualify high enough, having had some light winds there were also a number of big boned sailors stranded in Silver with the prospect of wind to come, less than ideal if you enjoy long lunches. The RO had changed approach and had opened the racing to start early to capture the now dominant Peeler. On the first day of the finals, the blowy, misty, rainy morning that we were greeted with warmed the hearts of the Danes and Brits as being goldilocks "just right", but then it became clear it was windy enough to dogs off chains.

The RO, concerned about safety, only allowed the Gold fleet to launch, a decision that would create quite the controversy in the boat park. But the RO was not for turning, indicating that we sailed under the blanket of security that he provided. On the racecourse, Sam Ellis (AUS) was marking out his high wind credentials by blasting out of the line, finishing the day with a second and third, only bettered by Simon Mussel (GBR) with two bullets. A former World Champion, Mussel demonstrated how he captured the title with unmatchable speed in anything above ten knots. While those two dominated, a tight race for the championship was shaping up between Lambertini, Mark Bulka (AUS), and Graeme Wilcox (GBR - and the 2024 World Champion), showing they were consistent in all breezes.

Contender Worlds 2025 at Fraglia Vela Malcesine - photo © Fabrizio Prandini

Day 5 would again be raced in the Peler and glorious sunshine, giving the whole fleet the true Garda experience and it was G-o-l-d-e-n. The high winds still favoured the left with Pim Van Vugt (NED) and Bulka nailing the pin and never looking back.

Van Vugt's boat handling excelled in the fresh conditions to give him the win, with Mussel speeding back through the pack to follow. A useful third for Bulka and an un-useful capsize for Wilcox tipped the title in Bulka's favor going into the last race, which made things as tight as Mussel's t-shirts. Wilcox needed a result and held second, with only Mussel uncatchable, Bulka had started conservatively and was in the chasing pack, and Lambertini was fourth which would give him the win but an overstand on the last leg allowed Richard Batten (GBR) to gain a place on him.

By the end, Bulka had recovered to sixth, and with Lambertini in fifth, Wilcox's second proved to be pivotal. No one could do the maths (failures of our school systems) and the suspense lasted until all boats had returned home. All three boats had ended on 36 points! Bulka was the only one of the three with a first that clinched the World Championship title.

What a race and a day on the water. At the prize-giving, Bulka was slightly emotional at securing the biggest of his now five World titles, and also graciously acknowledged how slim was his margin of victory over Lambertini and Wilcox. In the end, Bulka proved that consistency wins regattas with his worst finish being a seventh. He is not always the fastest in a straight line, but he is the best at race management in big fleets. I personally watched him turn a nightmare start (I was there too, as always) into a seventh place, no mean feat in this fleet. Bulka came to the event prepared, focused and fit, having refined his kit and practised lots, a well-deserved winner.

Mark Bulka wins the Contender Worlds 2025 at Fraglia Vela Malcesine - photo © Fabrizio Prandini

Lambertini's progress after many years of sailing Contenders is impressive. His swapping to a newer boat after the pre-worlds proved a game-changer. His consistency—second only to Bulka—and a stellar discard (10th place) made all the difference. Lambertini has always been a force in light winds but now it seems he is able to churn out stellar results in strong conditions for a complete performance.

Wilcox saw his championship hopes dashed after capsizing in race seven as up until then he was in pole position to take the title. But he, like Bulka just doesn't have bad results in a range of conditions. That consistency, combined with his technical ability in rig setting, means it is hard to see a future where he doesn't again capture the title.

Olga Henneberg (DEN/GER) took the female title amongst a strong fleet of 10 Women. Olga won a race in the pre-worlds (with 121 boats) and easily qualified for the gold fleet, holding her own in the strong Peler breeze.

Bruno Mantero (ITA) made the gold fleet and finished in 49th place to take the youth trophy.

The silver fleet was won by Nick Noble (GBR) who had dropped a race in qualification and was therefore motivated to take the title. The Master's trophy went to Bulka with former World champ Stuart Jones (GBR) continuing his dominance to take the grand master title.

Contender Worlds 2025 at Fraglia Vela Malcesine - photo © Fabrizio Prandini

Breakout Performances

Among the standout stories was fifth place finisher Sam Ellis (AUS), who led the fleet around by the nose in high winds in his first-ever World Championship, and with solid results in the lighter stuff as well. Tall and young, he's clearly a rising force in the class.

Pim Van Vugt, another talent, matched his pre-worlds result with a fourth place finish. He was tantalisingly close to clinching the title—had he placed in the top four in the final race, he would've taken it all. Pim's boat handling provided strong performances in windy conditions that bely his size.

Simon Barwood (AUS) also made waves. His previous second place finish in Perth in 2022 came in a much smaller fleet, making this result even more significant. Simon was lightning in the breeze with clear low/high mode to choose from, and only kit failure reduced his results.

Marco Ferrari, winner of the pre-worlds, suffered from equipment issues and minor errors, despite being one of the fittest, fastest and knowledgeable sailors on the water.

Contender Worlds 2025 at Fraglia Vela Malcesine - photo © Fabrizio Prandini

Simon Mussell was lightning-fast in strong winds but faltered in light conditions, posting 60th and 46th in two crucial races. With a second discard or slightly better finishes, he could've claimed the crown. Anyone calling him humble obviously hasn't met him.

Fraglia Vela Malcesine were perfect hosts, and while the venue delivered variable conditions, this was a regatta for the books. The Contender class continues to grow, and we now have Medemblik to look forward to in 2026. We anticipate a lot of grudge matches to be settled between the sailors (especially those who barely lost out on the title) and of course those evil marks.

Contender Worlds 2025 at Fraglia Vela Malcesine - photo © Fabrizio Prandini

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