Special Events

The America’s Cup, the pinnacle of yachting, was first contested in 1851 making it the oldest trophy in international sport, predating the modern Olympic Games by 45 years.

The trophy’s roots date back to when a syndicate of businessmen from New York sailed the schooner America across the Atlantic Ocean for the World’s Fair in England. The schooner won a race around the Isle of Wight against a fleet of British yachts to claim the £100 Cup.

Since 1973, the Volvo Ocean Race has provided the ultimate test of a team and a human adventure like no other.

Over four decades it has kept an almost mythical hold over some of the greatest ever sailors – and the 2022-23 edition will take the teams 32,000 nautical miles around the world, across four oceans, touching six continents and nine landmark Host Cities.

The Volvo Ocean Race is often described as the longest and toughest professional sporting event in the world, sailing’s toughest team challenge and one of the sport’s Big Three events, alongside the Olympics and America’s Cup.

Founded in 1995, the Professional Windsurfers Association (PWA) represents excellence in windsurfing. Its current and past members constitute the very best windsurfers in the World.

PWA sailors represent the sport at the highest level of competition, striving to improve everyday and make windsurfing better for the public.

The PWA organise and sanction professional events, make new rules for the sport, help promote grass roots growth, strengthen the bonds of friendship between existing associations, classes and disciplines of windsurfing and to provide support and services for all windsurfers.

The PWA World Tour is run by windsurfers and consists of a men’s and women’s circuit with between eight and 12 stages in some of the world’s best windsurfing spots. In January 2021, the organisation announced the introduction of an equal prize money system for both fleets.

SailGP exists to make our sport better and use it as a platform for a better planet. SailGP Inspire brings this to life. Their goal is to leave a positive legacy and build a sustainable sport – by providing equal, life-changing opportunities and new career pathways for all, regardless of race or socioeconomic background.

The F50 cutting-edge one-design catamaran used by all SailGP teams, leaving performances and results directly in the hands of our world-class athletes.

A culmination of 10 years of development in high-performance, foiling, multi-hull racing, the F50 was the first boat to hit 92.6 km/h (50 knots/57.5 mph) during racing and has a predicted top speed of over 96.6 km/h (52.2 knots/60 mph).

The SailGP Championship is made up of eight events, which take place across the globe throughout the season, with each event including multiple races. Events take place across two days, with six races scheduled for each Sail Grand Prix; five fleet races and The Final.

The first day includes three fleet races, while the second day has the other two fleet races and ends with The Final – the last race of the event. SailGP events take place all over the world in multiple iconic venues and in all kinds of weather conditions.

Founded in 2000, the World Match Racing Tour (WMRT) is the longest running global professional sailing series. The tour features the very best match racing sailors around the world that compete for the official match racing world championship title.

Since 2000, WMRT has hosted over 3,000 match racing events and awarded over USD23 million in prize money which has contributed to the successful careers of many of today’s professional sailors. Teams compete in identically matched boats on each stage of the World Match Racing Tour. The boat types are also different at each stage which tests the ultimate skill and strategy of sailors in all conditions. Previous WMRT event and world champions include six-time world champion Ian Williams (GBR), Russell Coutts (NZL), Ben Ainslie (GBR), James Spithill (USA), Francesco Bruni (ITA), Taylor Canfield (USA), Peter Gilmour (AUS).

WMRT is a global championship series with up to 18 events each year. Skippers accumulate points at each stage to qualify for the WMRT Final event at the end of the year.  The skipper with the highest points at the end of the season is crowned the World Sailing Match Racing World Champion.

WMRT is a partner of the World Sailing sustainability charter 2030 and Sailors for the Sea ‘Clean Regattas’ programme to promote sustainable events, and clean oceans. WMRT is also an ‘Open’ world championship series providing equal opportunity for both male and female sailors.

The GKA Kite World Tour crowns male and female World Champions in two disciplines:

‘Kite-Surf’ World Cup events combine wave riding and strapless freestyle to find the most complete surfboard rider; while the ‘Freestyle’ discipline is ultimate competitions for twin-tip riders, mixing technical manoeuvres with big air.

The Star Sailors League is a circuit created by sailors for sailors both professional and amateur.

It is born from a desire to offer sailing champions a simple, well priced and efficient platform from which to showcase their exploits to a global audience. Celebrating the stars of yesterday and today while creating those of tomorrow is the vocation behind the Star Sailors League, a circuit that seeks to be part of sailing tradition while making it more ‘pop’ and more attractive to the public.

The SSL is modeled on the principals of tennis’ ATP with an annual calendar made up of four Grand Slams and the Finals based on the Masters. At the end of the circuit the champion of champions will be crowned.

In a mechanical sport where the race for technology sometimes gets in the way of the race for glory, the SSL aims for equal competition where the talent of the sailors is at the forefront and the champions become heroes that inspire new generations of sailors.

Foiling Week is a no-profit sport and cultural association whose scope is to promote foiling and make it more safe, accessible and sustainable. It aims to provide the foiling community with the network and resources to grow within the sport of sailing.

The event is the leader in bringing responsibility and creativity into the sport and industry. It has led to innovations including the creation of a world-wide database tracking foiling injuries and solutions in training and clothing to address accidents which has become the very first scientific paper published in a leading magazine with repercussions throughout the sailing world.

Foiling Week also partners with universities for sustainable construction like the SuMoth, where students design and create an International Moth entirely made of recyclable material. The design and build process uses life cycle assessments for new products to improve sustainability in every stage of the project.

These relationships build on the growing elements within Foiling Week including the annual Foiling Awards that recognise innovation and individual contribution to the event’s values of safety, sustainability and accessibility, and the newly launched Foiling Hall of Fame.

The GWA Wingfoil World Tour crowns male and female World Champions in four spectacular disciplines:

Surf-Freestyle is a competition format that aims to drive the ultimate levels of trick performance and expression. Riders battle against each other, surfing waves or performing explosive and technically skilled air moves

In the FreeFly-Slalom discipline, competitors race around a multi-leg course that combines jibes, tacks and sections of pumping or surfing on the hydrofoil without using the power of the wing. This exciting and evolving format is usually focused on high speed downwind courses.

In Wave World Cups, riders purely surf waves in any surfing conditions from cross offshore point breaks, to onshore beach breaks. No jumps on the way out are counted for the competitor’s score.

Big Air is a new and exciting addition to the fast-evolving world of wingfoil. In this discipline, the athletes are judged mainly on the height of their jumps. Competitors already can jump as high as 12 metres while throwing air manoeuvres and flying as much as 50 metres downwind.

In addition, the GWA Wingfoil World Tour runs Youth World Championships to promote young riders and to give them the chance to gain international competition experience. Continental Championships welcome professional and non-professional competitors. The Winners of the Continental Championships qualify for the GWA Wingfoil World Tour in the following year.

The IWSA WingFoil Racing World Tour is a young and dynamic racing platform, delivering fair competition for the best WingFoil riders and crowns the world champions in the WingFoil racing disciplines.

It is managed by World Sailing International Race Officials, and it prioritisses diversity, sustainability, accessibility, and minimum environmental impact.

The IWSA WingFoil Racing World Tour comprises of a wide range of events, from local, regional and continental up to the prestige WingFoil Racing World Cups, creating a pathway for development and growth at the grassroots level while showcasing a young, exciting expression of sailing at the top end.

The WingFoil Racing community is fast-growing and developing around the globe. It is young, it is inclusive, and it combines the informality and vibrancy of the beach with the top elite sport of sailing, presenting an exciting new opportunity to connect with new athletes and a new generation of sports fans.