Corinthian Spirit takes center stage at the Forthcoming 2026 Melges 24 World Championship
by International Melges 24 Class Association 15 Sep 07:57 PDT
19-26 September 2026
Only one team will leave Harbor Springs as the 2026 Melges 24 Corinthian World Champion. Yet every Corinthian crew on the starting line will represent the community of sailors that has carried the Melges 24 forward for more than three decades © Anna Suslova
When the fleet gathers in Harbor Springs for the 2026 Melges 24 World Championship, every team will arrive with its own story.
Some will bring professional campaigns built around years of international competition. Others will arrive after balancing training weekends with careers, families, travel and the countless practical demands of preparing a boat for a World Championship. These are the Corinthian teams - the committed amateur sailors whose determination, friendships and love of competition have helped sustain and expand the Melges 24 Class around the world.
Corinthian racing has long been central to the identity of the International Melges 24 Class Association. The division gives amateur teams the opportunity to compete for one of the sport's most meaningful titles while racing on the same course and fleet as some of the world's most accomplished sailors.
That combination has always been one of the Melges 24's defining strengths. From the beginning, the boat attracted leading professional sailors with its speed, responsiveness and advanced design. At the same time, it remained accessible to club sailors and owner-led teams eager to test themselves at the highest level of one-design racing.
Those teams became the foundation of fleets across North America, Europe and around the world, and their contribution remains just as important today.
As the 2026 Melges 24 World Championship draws near, 30 of the 52 entries have qualified for the Corinthian division. Among them are defending world champions, established North American contenders, first-time World Championship teams and a new generation carrying forward a remarkable Melges 24 family legacy.
ZHIK Race Team: a stalwart returns to defend the title
Leading the international Corinthian challenge is defending all-amateur World Champion Zhik Race Team, owned by longtime Melges 24 Class stalwart Miles Quinton and helmed by Geoff Carveth.
Quinton's connection with the Class reaches back to the build-up to the first 1998 World Championship in Torbay, England. He and a group of sailing friends first discovered the Melges 24 at the London Boat Show in Earls Court and were immediately drawn to its exciting new design. Their opportunity arrived when a boat purchased at the show became available before it had ever been sailed. Together, they acquired GBR-334, We're with the Woolwich, and Quinton's nearly three-decade journey with the Melges 24 began.
In 2006, Quinton launched his own campaign with GBR-654. A year later, he added a boat sourced from the United States, GBR-694, which would go on to build an outstanding international record, first as Gill Race Team, and most recently as Zhik Race Team.
Over almost two decades, Quinton and Carveth have become a familiar presence at the front of major Melges 24 fleets. The campaign won the European Sailing Series overall in 2015 and 2017, finished second overall in 2016 and placed third overall in 2014, 2020 and 2024. Its Corinthian record includes European Championship gold in 2016, bronze in 2024 and numerous European Sailing Series podiums. In 2021, the amateur team finished an impressive second overall at the European Championship, proving it could challenge leading professional campaigns on equal terms.
That long record of commitment and consistency made the team's 2025 success in Trieste especially meaningful. They captured both the Corinthian World Championship and the European Sailing Series Corinthian title, with the outcome decided on the final day and in the final race.
"When we won the Corinthian Worlds, my first thought the next day was that we should go and defend the title in 2026 against the strongest Corinthian teams in the U.S.," said Quinton. "The competition will be fierce, so once again we will have to sail at our best to do well."
Now Quinton and Zhik Race Team return to the world stage carrying a new name, a familiar core crew and a title to defend. Carveth will again take the helm, with Oli Wells as tactician, Sara Zuppin on the bow and newcomer George Sellwood completing the experienced "Britalian" squad.
"It is great to see 52 boats entered and that we will be joined by the young Norwegians - Team Bagdad Prospects after its great success at the Europeans. The Worlds promises to be an amazing event, and we are truly excited to be part of it. We look forward to seeing old friends and making new ones."
Troublemaker arrives with momentum
Among the leading North American challengers is Eddie Gary's Troublemaker, fresh from winning the Corinthian division at the 2026 Melges 24 U.S. National Championship. The team also arrives as the reigning Melges 24 North American Corinthian champion. Harbor Springs, however, represents a new milestone: the crew's first World Championship together.
"The Troublemaker team is really excited for our first World Championship together," said Gary. "Harbor Springs is gorgeous, and we are looking forward to the event and to competing against teams we have not had the opportunity to race before."
For Gary, reaching the Worlds represents the fulfillment of an ambition that began when he acquired the boat. "When I got the boat, the goal was to put together a team to race the Worlds," he said. "To have reached that point is really exciting."
Gary's recent results make them one to watch, but its journey also captures the essence of the Corinthian division: build a crew, develop together and earn the opportunity to measure that progress against the world's best.
Surprise continues its international journey
Canada's Dan Berezin at the helm of Surprise will bring another accomplished Corinthian campaign to Little Traverse Bay.
Berezin is President of the Canadian Melges 24 Class, and the back-to-back Canadian Melges 24 National Champion, having won the title in both 2025 and 2026. They also claimed the 2025 Melges 24 North American Sailing Series Corinthian title and finished fourth overall after competing in eight of the season's ten events.
That campaign reflected not only the team's consistency, but also the growing strength of amateur competition throughout the North American fleet.
Berezin recently added another chapter to his preparation by competing at the Melges 24 European Championship in Tønsberg, Norway, aboard his Europe-based boat, EuroSurprise. Although only one member of his Harbour Springs crew, Sophia, joined him in Norway, the experience provided valuable time on the water-particularly during a memorable day of racing in more than 20 knots.
"We are reasonably well prepared, although it is all relative," Berezin said. "We do not often sail in more than 20 knots of wind, so that Wednesday in Tønsberg will be a day to remember. I am glad we were there."
His World Championship team was finalized approximately two months before the event. Since then, the crew has focused on communication and fundamental maneuvers while competing in one local regatta.
Berezin expects the Corinthian contest in Harbor Springs to be demanding, with the defending world champions, leading North American teams and Norway's emerging young sailors all joining the fight.
"Kudos to the overseas teams that made the trip," he said. "I think the teams mentioned will be strong contenders for the Corinthian title. The total number of participants is higher than at the previous two World Championships sailed in North America, and that is a good sign."
A new generation from Norway
The final boat to join the World Championship entry list also brings one of its most compelling stories.
Norway's Team Bagdad Prospects Helly Hansen, led by Tomas Mathisen, demonstrated its potential at the recent European Championship in Tønsberg. The young team pursued a place on the Corinthian podium, recorded five single-digit finishes across nine races and placed ninth overall.
Its progress did not begin there. The team won the historic Hanko Race Week in 2025 and finished sixth at the 2026 Norwegian National Championship.
In Harbor Springs, the Norwegian crew will race aboard the historically fast, Zenda Express, the boat of Harry Melges IV, whose current commitments include an active role with the SailGP USA Team and ArcTeamUSA, proudly representing the United States in the Louis Vuitton 38th America's Cup.
Joining the crew is Hans Herman Nergaard, whose family connection to the Melges 24 Class reaches back to its formative years. His father, Kristian Nergaard, became the first Melges 24 Corinthian European champion in 1998 and later earned silver at the 2010 Marinepool Melges 24 World Championship in Tallinn, Estonia, with Harry Melges III aboard.
Now, aboard a boat belonging to the next generation of the Melges family, Hans Herman Nergaard and his teammates will continue that story.
It is a fitting illustration of what the Corinthian division represents: history passed from one generation to another, new friendships formed across borders and young sailors discovering their place within an international class.
Racing for the Challenge Henri Samuel Trophy
The Corinthian Melges 24 World Champion will be awarded the Challenge Henri Samuel Corinthian World Championship Trophy.
Until 2006, the trophy was presented to the winner of the Melges 24 French National Championship. At the 2006 World Championship in Hyères, France, it was donated to the International Melges 24 Class Association to become the perpetual trophy for the Corinthian World Champions.
The trophy was donated by Henri Samuel of France, who served as IM24CA chairman from 2003 through 2007.
Today, it represents far more than the result of a single regatta. It recognizes the amateur sailors who commit their own time, energy and resources to compete at the highest level, and whose participation remains essential to the strength and future of the Melges 24 Class.
Quantum Sails recognizes the Corinthian fleet
The World Championship will also serve as the fifth and final event of the 2026 Quantum Sails Great Lakes Cup, bringing the regional series to its conclusion on Little Traverse Bay. As part of its support for the event, Quantum Sails will recognize the strength, growth and importance of Corinthian competition by raffling a V4 spinnaker exclusively among the Corinthian teams during Sunday's Opening Ceremony.
Teams must be present to win. The Organizing Authority has agreed to measure the new sail before racing begins on Tuesday, allowing the winning team to declare and use it during the World Championship.
With 30 Corinthian entries representing different countries, generations and paths into the sport, the battle for the Challenge Henri Samuel Trophy promises to be one of the championship's most closely watched contests.
Only one team will leave Harbor Springs as the 2026 Corinthian World Champion. Yet every Corinthian crew on the starting line will represent the community of sailors that has carried the Melges 24 forward for more than three decades.
They may arrive as amateurs, but they will race with world-class ambition.