IOM World Championship 2026 at Datchet Water Sailing Club - Day 1
by Mark Jardine 17 May 12:23 PDT
15-22 May 2026
After all the preparation, measuring and behind the scenes organisation, it was go time at Datchet. The 2026 IOM Worlds were under way. The breeze built, the clouds parted, the qualifying heat allocations were made and the skippers launched for this vital stage.
The sailors were grouped into five heats, which would decide the initial groups they'd race in. Finish in the top three in your heat and you'll be in the top group, 4th to 6th in the second group and so on. To spice things up, and allow sailors to progress from a bad qualifying heat, there's promotion and relegation. Finish in the top six of your group race and you'll go up a group, finish in the bottom six and you'll go down. This way the cream rises to the top and the very best get to race against each other as early as possible in the championship.
Theoretically you can rise from the bottom group to the top in one round of heats by constantly finishing in the top six. You'd have to sail five back-to-back races, but it can be done, and you'd become the Wrexham of the radio sailing world, just without the Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney celebrity owners in your camp.
Watching it all unfold for the first time is a revelation, and Mark Golison, sailing his Venti-designed USA 55, has been through the process of having to climb the ladder at previous events, but was feeling relieved to secure a second in Heat D to progress to the top group:
"The seeding race is to me one of the highest pressure races, as starting the regatta in A fleet or E fleet having to work your way back up - and I've done both - makes a big difference, so it's quite a relief to be in good shape after the first seeding race."
Mark is part of the nine-person contingent of sailors from the U.S.A at the 2026 IOM Worlds, and, living on the west coast, told us more about his route into the sport:
"I've been sailing regular 'sit in' boats for my whole life, everything from 8ft Sabots, little prams, when we were kids, through to Lasers, FJs, 420s, J/24s, Melges 24s and all the way to our family 44ft IOR boat back in the '70s. I got into radio sailing as my back in 2014 finally wouldn't allow me to sail the Melges 24 anymore, and the IOM Worlds were going to be in San Francisco in 2015, and I thought 'this is kind of cool', and that was that."
So having initially given it a go, Mark is still sailing the IOM class twelve years later... The bug has bitten him hard:
"It's funny, my brothers who are regular racers used to laugh at me for sailing my toy boat. But then with all the travelling we get to do, and it's so easy to travel with it compared to a big boat, they noted it wasn't so bad! My wife and I use it as an excuse to travel, and I love the competition."
Model yachting races inherently need to be held close to the shore. The skippers have to see their yachts clearly, and the further away they are, the harder the depth perception is, making it easier to collide with marks and other yachts. While a reservoir is the ideal venue with edges all around, there are three designated course areas at Datchet Water for different wind directions, all near the club so that the skippers' step count doesn't go too crazy.
It does mean sometimes the course can be slightly biased if the wind isn't perfectly cross-shore. Radio sailors are used to this, and understand that at times, like today, they'll spend more time on starboard upwind and port downwind with the breeze more west than south west. The tactics remain the same, but getting the lay lines right becomes critical.
Another member of the U.S.A. team is Peter Feldman, sailing his VISS-designed USA 44, and again was happy to secure a top three finish in Heat C to progress to the top group.
"At the windward mark I was in a solid third, so it felt good. I probably wouldn't have felt much better if I'd won the race."
Radio sailors have to concentrate fully on their yacht while also spotting the windshifts, which can be really tricky when the sailing is so nip and tuck.
"I probably don't look up the course enough to be honest. I'm more reactionary rather than prediction in terms of windshifts. I missed the last leftie on the third upwind leg, but I had a good rightie on the second upwind."
Peter lives in the Mid-West in Michigan, but moves to Florida in the winter where he enjoys great racing:
"It's probably the best in the country. A lot of us are fortunate enough to be retired or have a lot of time on our hands, so we do a lot of sailing in Florida."
It was a chance look out of the window while in the car that got Peter into model yachting, and also back into sailing:
"My father drove past a fleet of model boats sailing. I was a sailor growing up, but took a break when I was 25, and it was a great way to get back into the sport. I'd been sailing dinghies in high school and college, and then sailed an Etchells. I did one Etchells Worlds back in 2003, and that was a gruelling week and a half. This event is gruelling in a different way!"
With the qualifying complete it was on to the group racing with two more full rounds sailed. Defending champion Zvonko Jelacic (CRO 35) had a busy day on the water after a poor qualifying race put him in Group 2, and then he retired from his second race after infringing another boat. He used the promotion system to full effect in the third round, finishing in the promotion spots in Group 3, then Group 2 to put him back in the premier league, but he's picked up some high scores along the way:
"In qualifying I did ok, I finished fourth, which is the B fleet, but then during the B fleet race I had an accident while on port and he ended up with loose shrouds from my contact so I decided to retire and dropped to C fleet. Then in C I finished 4th or 5th, which is enough to climb, and I did the same again in the next race."
The trophy holder is impressed with the quality of the fleet, and knows that consistency will be required to lift the trophy:
"In A fleet, getting anything in single digits is a very good score, so if you manage to do that then you'll be near the top."
Australia's Aaron Farrar (AUS 37) sits top of the leaderboard on 7 points after three rounds, with France's Alexis Carre (FRA 73) just a point behind, while Peter Feldman (USA 44) is on 12 points after a consistent day of top five results.
Graham Elliott (GBR 09) is the top sailor from the home nation in 4th with two great results marred by a 13th in race 2, while Romain Dubreuil (FRA 77) is in 5th, and the only other sailor all his results in the top ten.
As Zvonko said, consistency is going to be key, and that's a hard commodity to come by in this strong fleet.
More information on the event website, www.iomworlds2026.com with provisional results so far posted on the event's Facebook page, and videos being uploaded to YouTube.