Dani Anglada Pich heads into the 2026 World Sailing Inclusion Championships with gold on his mind

A former merchant navy officer and ship’s captain who lost his vision at age 31 following an accident onboard the vessel he was sailing near Hawaii when a fire extinguisher exploded, Anglada has established himself as a dominant, pioneering force on the international circuit.

He approaches the 2026 championships not as an underdog, but as a seasoned contender with a proven record against elite international teams. Anglada’s momentum heading into this championship is backed by a year of historic achievements across both solo and team disciplines.

In July 2025, Anglada made history as the first blind sailor to complete a solo, non-stop circumnavigation of the Isle of Wight. Steering an unassisted Patí Català – a traditional beach catamaran with no rudder, centreboard, or boom – he completed the 70-nautical-mile course through complex tidal gates in 13 hours and 8 minutes.

Later that year, he led a team assembled in just three weeks and secured the silver medal at the inaugural World Sailing Inclusion Championships in Oman. His crew defeated well-established international teams – including British crews with over 15 years of experience together – which solidified his tactical prowess on the world stage.

His achievements earned him and his team, YesWeSail, a nomination among the world’s top four teams for the prestigious World Sailing Team of the Year Award 2025 in Dublin, alongside being named Sporting Spirit of the Year by the Unió de Federacions Esportives de Catalunya.

What sets Anglada apart is his unique combination of sensory sailing mastery and cutting-edge assistance protocols developed through his association, YesWeSail.

Anglada navigates by reading environmental cues, detecting wind tone shifts through the sails, sensing hull vibration adjustments, and feeling precise changes through the helm.

YesWeSail integrates IoT systems, data sonification, and haptic feedback/guidance protocols. This technology allows visually impaired sailors to read wind, speed, and positioning with high autonomy and real-time precision during high-stakes regattas.

For Anglada, the 2026 World Sailing Inclusion Championships represent a major milestone on a much larger trajectory. Supported by Port Masnou, Club Nàutic El Masnou, and international collaborators like the East Cowes Sailing Club, his performance is closely linked to a global push to revive adaptive sailing as a paralympic discipline for the Brisbane 2032 Paralympic Games.

Having drawn high-profile endorsement – including a personal audience with HRH The Princess Royal, Princess Anne at the 200th edition of Cowes Week in August 2026 – Anglada brings unmatched public visibility, technological innovation, and world-class competitive spirit to the 2026 starting line.

Additional images copyright Tim Jeffreys Photography.