505 World Championship 2026 at Hayling Island Sailing Club - Preview

505 Worlds held in Weymouth, UK in 2016 © Christophe Favreau / www.christophefavreau.com

Excitement is mounting as Hayling Island Sailing Club prepares to host the 2026 505 World Championship starting on 5 July. There are currently over 90 boats entered from 11 different countries, including many past world champions from 505s and many other classes.

As 505 Class celebrates the 70th anniversary of its first World Championship, it is excited to welcome our marine sponsors: WIP, Ovington Boats and Allen Brothers, who are all market leaders in their fields and closely involved with the Class.

The front of the fleet is set to be ultra-competitive with top Australian team Peter Nicholas and Luke Payne looking to regain the title they last won in Sweden 2 years ago. Up against them will be the best German team Jan-Philipp Hofmann and Felix Björn Brockerhoff who have come so close to winning their first World Championship and have been the form team across Europe for the past few years.

Multiple World Champions Mike Holt and Carl Smit, along with the legendary Howie Hamlin and Andy Zinn will be leading the challenge from the USA.

Although there has not been a British World Champion for nearly 20 years, the host nation will not only be the strongest in numbers but also have some real contenders peaking nicely in time for the main prize. Home favourites include current European Champions, Roger Gilbert and Ian Mitchell, Paul Brotherton and James Fawcett, winners of the recent Euro Cup event at Lake Garda, and current UK Champions Mike Sims and Carl Gibbon.

And just to prove that the 505 has not only enduring appeal but enduring sailors, four times World Champion Peter Colclough, is returning more than thirty years after his last World Championship!

There is also a strong contingent of mixed and women's teams who are increasingly showing great speed - likely to be led by the Pacific Coast Champions, the USA's AJ Conrads crewed by Jon Bell who were 4th at Garda a few short weeks ago.

The Youth prize will be closely fought between teams who are relatively new to 505s but excellent sailors either having come through 29ers or 420s or taking a break from 49ers/FXs. Sam Goult and Alex Brown are likely to be the ones to watch.

The Classics Fleet (boats older than 25 years) is well represented with 15 entries meaning the Classics Trophy will be hotly contested as they do battle within the main fleet. Locals Steve Culpitt and Mark Nicholson will need to be at their very best but could definitely make an impression on the international entry in this category.

In the spirit of the event there will be fun team prizes each day which gives a chance for competitors across the fleet to get to know each other better and improve their sailing.

During the Pre-Worlds Regatta the fleet will benefit from the insights of top coach Adam Bowers who is fantastic at improving and motivating sailors of all levels.

For the main event Trac Trac UK will be providing live tracking to an international audience for all of the 505 Worlds races - you can follow the racing at int505.org/2026-505-world-championships-hayling/race-tracking