Day 3 at Dutch Water Week: Shaping the Future of Olympic Sailing with New Formats

Day Three of the Dutch Water Week, the last stop of the Sailing Grand Slam 2025, brought sunshine and light winds to Almere. After two cooler, breezier days, sailors and fans finally enjoyed almost summer-like conditions. The event offers the opportunity to test new formats for future finals in sailing, windsurfing and kite foiling.

Britain’s Michael 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.

ILCA 7

In the ILCA 7, Michael Beckett (GBR) underlined his quality with another strong day, keeping a firm hold on the overall lead. With Nicholas Halliday (HKG) and Lorenzo Chiavarini (ITA) in the chase, Dutch sailor Duko Bos held on to joint 5th, while Willem Wiersema followed in 8th.

Reflecting on the format trials, Beckett said:
“It’s great that we’re using this event to test new formats. Sailing needs to keep moving forward, and experiments like this are important if we want the sport to stay exciting and attractive at the Olympics.”

ILCA 6

In the ILCA 6, the leader is Eve McMahon (IRL) with Agata Barwinska (POL) in second. Maxime Jonker (NED) climbed into 3rd overall and Roos Wind (NED) also impressed, sitting close behind in 4th.

Norwegian sailor Line Flem Høst, in fifth place, praised the format innovations in her class:

“For us in the ILCA 6, it feels like a full event of medal race sailing, which is pretty cool. The two upwind marks give us a lot more to think about. Every rounding, every tack, every small manoeuvre suddenly becomes crucial. It takes away some of the advantages we older, more experienced sailors usually have, but that’s a cool challenge. What’s most exciting is that everyone has a chance until the last few days — and the one who crosses the finish line first is the one who wins the race. That makes it a lot easier for spectators to understand.”

iQFOiL

In the iQFOiL Men, Johan Søe (DEN) stayed out in front, with Nacho Baltasar Summers (ESP) in 2nd and Max Castelein climbing into the top 3. Olympic champion Kiran Badloe (NED) sits 5th, and Joost Vink (NED) is 6th.

Baltasar Summers enjoyed the chance to try new courses:
“We started trying a new school racing course and it’s super fun. Because we are only ten riders, it’s easy to test. At a world championship with 35 this wouldn’t work. But maybe for the medal race or even the Olympics, something like this could really work.”

Shaping the future of the sport

The real headline is innovation. These Pilot Finals are being used to test new competition formats designed to make sailing more exciting, easier to understand, and fit for the Olympic stage.

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.”

That innovative spirit is nothing new in the Netherlands. Under earlier names — Spa Regatta and later Delta Lloyd Regatta — this event has always been on the brink of change, introducing fresh ideas to improve the sport’s appeal. With Olympic sailing heavily dependent on TV coverage and broadcasting rights, making the racing more straightforward and thrilling remains an essential mission.

Finals on inland lake at Almere’s City Centre

For the last two days, the Dutch Water Week leaves Marina Muiderzand and 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.

Looking ahead to the change of venue, Dutch ILCA 7 sailor Duko Bos said:
“I trained a bit on the Kralingse Plas (small inland lake in my hometown Rotterdam) to prepare for the switch to the Weerwater in the city centre. Hopefully that gives me a little advantage.”

On Sunday, the five best-ranked in the High Points Scoring format (iQFOiL and ILCA 7) will battle it out on the Weerwater in the ultimate final. In the Low Points Scoring format (ILCA 6) all nine will compete to decide who takes the honours — and the €1,500 prize money for the winner.