2025 Hansa and Para Worlds

Grey, buckets of rain, cold, no breeze, swirling light air – the penultimate day of the 2025 Hansa and Para World Championships on Pittwater gave competitors everything except a steady breeze and sun – which meant one race each in two classes only and four new world champions declared.

In a sliding doors moments, Rory McKinna (GBR) and Jess Wong won the Hansa 303 Two-Person Worlds from Chris Symonds and Maunela Klinger (AUS) and Piotr Cichocki and Olga Górnas-Grudzien (POL), who despite winning the final race, dropped to third overall after taking a penalty in Race 5 yesterday, which cost them the World crown and second place.

McKinna knows he can’t win or place second, as the top two have hardly strayed outside winning races, but third is achievable – and so far fate has been on his side.

No matter, the Scotsman is going home with a world championship trophy, just not the one he envisioned!

The only other class to race was the SKUD18. Daniel Fitzgibbon and Chris Somers (AUS) won all seven races to win these Worlds. Fitzgibbon owns two gold and one silver medal from three Paralympic Games. Although he had not sailed the boat since the 2016 Rio Games, it all fell into place with some practice.

Fitzgibbons’ team mate, Somers, is an old friend he sailed in the 420 class with back in the day, so the combination was a natural one.

Second and third places overall also remain unchanged, going to Australian teams Neil Rowsthorn and Jack Wallace and Naomi Ohue and Joe Thompson respectively.

Because of the tricky conditions, the Liberty and Hansa 2.3 did not get to race, so their World Championships were decided on six races each.

Lou Hutton, Race Officer on Bravo course explained: “We had 5-7 knots, it dropped out to 2-3 knots and like the rest of the week, it was very shifty. It was south-west, pretty much, but there was a fair bit of movement in that.

Yui Fujimoto (JPN) is the new World Champion in the Hansa 2.3. Counting four wins, a second and a third, she deserved to win. Daisuke Zenju and Koji Harada filled out the podium. The Japanese trio started top three from Day 1 and were never headed, they were just too good.

It was a different story in the Liberty class where the top places fluctuated between four sailors and then three.

Yuen Wai Foo (HKG) won the Championship, but on countback to Charles Weatherly (AUS). The two found themselves in this position twice. Vera Voorbach (NED) took the final podium place and was just one point behind the top two. She spent the week moving up the leaderboard. She and Weatherly were looking forward to more races, but it was not to be.

The Hansa 303 One Person is the only class scheduled to race tomorrow, but it depends on the conditions. As Hutton explained: “A small problem is the current gale warning. It will be looked at. We are intending to start racing at 11am – if it is safe to go out there,” she said.

The Worlds include the Hansa World and International Championships, Australian and NSW Hansa Class Championships plus the Para World Championships. All winners will be announced at the Presentation, followed by the Closing Ceremony at Royal Prince Alfred Yacht Club (RPAYC) tomorrow, once the Hansa 303 One Person top three are established.

Sixteen nations have been competing at the Championships hosted by RPAYC on Pittwater in NSW: Australia, Chile, France, Germany, Great Britain, Hong Kong, Italy, Japan, Netherlands, New Zealand, Poland, Portugal, Singapore, South Korea, Spain and USA.

For all information on the event, including entries, please visit: https://hansaworlds.org/

For all information on RPAYC and its facilities, please visit: https://rpayc.com.au/