YoungBlood Finishes a Four-Year Climb, Wins M32 World Championship in Newport

Four years after starting as the kid in the fleet, 18-year-old Miles Julien and his international crew complete a season-long rise to the summit.

The team in red spent four years learning how to win together. On Saturday in Newport, YoungBlood sealed it with a title.

Miles Julien and his international crew of tactician Carlos Robles, Bernardo Freitas, Moritz Spitzauer and Leonard Takahashi are the 2026 M32 World Champions, completing a season that saw YoungBlood rise from perennial challenger to the team to beat.

Even the final race made them earn it.

Rated X rounded the first mark in front while YoungBlood recovered from a difficult start, forcing Julien and crew to claw their way back through the fleet before securing the championship.

“We started off a little rough after the first day. We were in fifth place, and after that the team sort of had a reset and we had to rebuild slowly,” Julien said. “It really came down to the last race. Rated X did a fantastic job. We really had to claw our way back. But in the end, we made it.”

YoungBlood (left to right) Moritz Spitzauer (AUT), Bernardo Freitas (POR), Leonard Takahashi (NZL), Miles Julien (USA), Carlos Robles (ESP/USA)

It was a fitting ending for a team whose progress has rarely come all at once.

Julien began racing the M32 as a young teenager. Carlos Robles remembers meeting him when Miles was only 13. Years later, Julien is 18, a senior in high school, and a World Champion.

Around him is a team that has stayed remarkably intact: Julien from the United States, Robles from Spain, Freitas from Portugal, Spitzauer from Austria, and Takahashi from New Zealand. “We’ve been together for a really long time,” Julien said. “We get along great, we always have fun, and we take it very seriously. I think that was sort of the key to our success, and not giving up even after a tough first couple days – or years.”

YoungBlood’s first season was difficult. They dealt with boat problems, disappointing results, and plenty of weekends where the breakthrough did not come. Julien said this World Championship felt like a compressed version of their entire journey.

“This regatta itself sort of summed up our entire time together as a team,” he said. “We really started from the back and had to work our way back up. It’s been tough, but I think you just can’t give up. In this fleet, anything can happen.”

This year, things started clicking for Julien, Robles, and the squad.

YoungBlood won its first-ever regatta in January, then continued on to win the Miami Winter Series, Newport Summer Series, and North American Championship. They arrived at Worlds as one of the favorites, won the opening race by a large margin, then fell back to fifth by the end of Day One. Carlos Robles had a simple description for what came next.

“You sometimes have to be a goldfish. Forget about it and move on.”

They did. YoungBlood steadily rebuilt through Thursday, took the championship lead in Friday’s heavy air and defended it Saturday.

Miles Julien (USA)

For Robles, who has watched Julien grow up alongside the team, the championship carried extra weight. “We saw Miles start sailing. He was only thirteen and a half, I believe,” Robles said. “To see him grow and mature, and all of us actually go through that process together, then finally come away with the World Championship, it’s a great feeling.”

M32 Family at Midtown Race Club, our summer home on the water in downtown Newport, Rhode Island

That same long-term connection increasingly defines the M32 fleet itself.

The racing is serious, but the fleet has become a family. Daily social events bring everyone together after racing. The inside jokes multiply. The group chats are popping. The Calcutta may or may not exist. The traditions built over the past decade have become as much a part of the class as the racing.

The formula is working: a dozen highly engaged owner-drivers, short high-intensity races, professional-level competition, and plenty of time off the water to actually enjoy the people you are racing with.

Robles describes the M32 experience as unlike traditional keelboat racing, with short back-to-back races, high speeds, and a great community. The boats may look extreme from shore but are driven by normal people who have jobs, families, and a full life outside of sailing. “It’s just so different. The races are 20 minutes long, it’s a lot of races a day, we’re starting on a reach, we’re going really quick. The boats might look a little extreme from the outside, but they’re very manageable. And with the right team, it’s super fun.”

There is plenty more racing ahead.

Three events in the British Virgin Islands open the 2027 winter season, followed by another Newport summer and the 2027 M32 World Championship in Miami. From there, the class stays in Miami for the 2028 Miami Winter Series, a European summer, and the 2028 World Championship in Sweden. The next chapter is already taking shape.

The M32 Class has a demo boat available at every event on the calendar. Owners interested in joining the fleet can contact Dave Doucett at dave.doucett@astonharald.com.

M32 reaching start

YoungBlood hoists M32 World Championship Trophies for Overall and Corinthian Helm

Miles Julien, World Champion

Miles Julien, Bobby Julien, Charlie Julien

Carlos Robles

2026 M32 World Championship Roster

🥇 YoungBlood: Miles Julien (USA), Carlos Robles (ESP/USA), Bernardo Freitas (POR), Moritz Spitzauer (AUT), Leonard Takahashi (NZL)

🥈 Rated X: Charlie Julien (USA), David Gilmour (SWE), Jeff McCooey (USA), Julius Hallström (SWE), Rhys Mara (SWE)

🥉Tuuci: Cy Thompson (ISV), Tom Burton (AUS), C.T. Olander (USA), John Wallace (USA), Charlie McHugh (USA)

Midtown Racing: Larry Phillips (USA), Sam Hallowell (USA), Mark Spearman (AUS), Mark Bulkeley (GBR), Malcolm Lamphere (USA)

Surge: Mitchell Callahan (USA) / Ryan McKillen (USA), Jeremy Wilmot (AUS/USA), Ted Hackney (AUS/USA), Sam Loughborough (USA), Will Tiller (NZL)

ChinaOne.Ningbo: Paul Campbell-James (GBR), Garth Ellingham (NZL), Louis Brake (AUS), Jake Lidell (AUS), Liu Ming (CHN)

Pursuit: Bill Ruh (USA), Andrew Campbell (USA), Mac Agnese (USA), Peter Kinney (USA), Scott Ewing (USA)

Dingbat: Bobby Julien (USA), Victor Diaz de Leon (USA), Tom Ramshaw (CAN), Max Salminen (SWE), Alan Johnson (USA)

Cape Crow Vikings: Carl Svensson (SWE), Sam Gilmour (SWE), Jakob Wilson (SWE), Rasmus Alnebeck (SWE), Hugo Christensson (SWE)

FinalFinal: Jon Desmond (USA), Chris Steele (NZL), Tom Loughborough (USA), Ricky McGarvie (AUS), Brian Porter (USA)

• Results: M32World.com