Australian team wins 2026 11 Metre One Design Worlds

An Australian crew featuring sailors from the Royal Prince Alfred Yacht Club and Cruising Yacht Club of Australia has won the 2026 11 Metre One Design World Championship at Hankø Yacht Club in Norway.

The championship brought together a strong international fleet, with Olympians, world champions and “professional” sailors scattered throughout the competition.

For Australian tactician Steve McConaghy, the event was also something of a return to familiar territory.

“The competition was quite strong with a few Olympians and world champion sailors in the mix,” McConaghy said.

“I met some crew members that remembered competing against me 20 years ago at the world championships in Pittwater, Arendal and Bornholm. They have been sailing in this fleet regularly since then.”

While McConaghy has only raced the 11 Metre One Design a handful of times in recent years, he has plenty of history in the class, having won world championships in 2004, 2005 and 2006.

“I have only sailed in this class a handful of times since winning the worlds in 2004/5/6, but my memories came flooding back pretty quickly on how to make these boats go fast.”

A strong Australian combination

The winning crew brought together considerable experience, although remarkably the team only sailed together for the first time two days before the championship began.

Mark Griffith and Michael Lockley have been sailing 11 Metre One Designs at RPAYC for approximately five years, providing valuable class-specific knowledge.

Tom Spithill and Mal Richardson added considerable experience of their own, despite having only sailed the 11 Metre One Design a few times previously.

“We had a very solid team and our sail trim and crew work was flawless,” McConaghy said.

“Quite amazing as the first time we sailed together was only two days before the regatta!”

Local knowledge pays off at Hankø

McConaghy also arrived in Norway with some useful knowledge of the race area.

He had sailed at Hankø four years earlier at the 5.5 Metre World Championship with Mark Tolhurst, in the year fellow RPAYC member John Bacon won the title.

That experience provided an important clue to the conditions the team would encounter.

“I remembered that the left side of the course was often favoured, especially when the tide was ebbing out of the nearby river in a south-westerly breeze direction,” McConaghy explained.

Three of the five days produced those conditions, combined with well-set start lines that allowed the Australians to put their strategy into practice.

“We started up towards the low-risk committee boat end and were able to hold our lane and push to the left-hand side of the course without too many boats crossing our bow.”

“This enabled us to get around the top mark in the top five in most of the races.”

Downwind speed makes the difference

While consistency upwind put the team in strong positions, McConaghy believes their downwind sailing was among their biggest strengths.

“Our downwind strategy was probably the best of the fleet, always gaining a few places staying in clear air and watching the lanes of pressure,” he said.

“As with all fast downwind boats, sailing the correct angle to the wind was crucial, especially with masthead symmetric spinnakers.”

The combination of good starts, smart positioning, strong downwind sailing and polished crew work ultimately delivered the Australians the 2026 11 Metre One Design World Championship title.

It was an impressive result for a crew that had barely sailed together before arriving at the championship – and another international title with strong connections to Sydney’s RPAYC and CYCA sailing communities.