Day Three of the Dutch Water Week, the last stop of the Olympic Classes Sailing Grand Slam 2025.
As well as deciding the overall Sailing Grand Slam 2025 podiums, the event is being used to test new formats for future Olympic and major finals in sailing, windsurfing and kite foiling.
After three days of racing for the leading Sailing Grand Slam competitors, Britain’s Micky Beckett continues to lead the ten-sailor fleet in the ILCA 7. Danish windsurfer Johan Søe tops the iQFOiL Men’s class and Ireland’s Eve McMahon is the one to beat in the ILCA 6.
For the last two days, the Dutch Water Week moves inland to the Weerwater in Almere’s city centre. The shift brings top-level sailing right into the heart of the city, making it easier for the public to watch the action up close.
Linda Bomhof, event director, explains how new scoring systems and the decision to race without discards are being trialled this week — experiments aimed at keeping the sport dynamic, attractive for sailors, and crucially, appealing to television audiences:
“With only ten athletes on the start line, this week gives us the perfect chance to try different systems. We are testing both low-point scoring, where every finishing position counts, and high-point scoring, where only the top three in each race get points.
We’ve also removed discards after analysing years of data that showed they made no difference to the overall result. On top of that, we are trying new course layouts such as Course X, which put sailors under constant pressure and make the racing easier to follow for spectators.
All of this is about shaping formats that are fair for the athletes and exciting for the Olympic stage.”
Saturday 20 – Sunday 21 September: Finals on the Weerwater, including the 49er fleet.
Sailing Grand Slam Prizes: Each class winner will receive €1,500
