2026 IOD World Championship at Eastern Yacht Club

Five Past World Champions Headline Star-Studded Field.

From June 13 through June 19^th, the International One Design Class will hold its annual World Championship regatta at Marblehead’s Eastern Yacht Club.  Five past IOD World Champions, including Marblehead racer Bill Widnall (10x World Champion) and Defending World Champion John Burnham (5x World Champion) headline the twelve-team field.  

Bermuda Olympian Peter Bromby, who dominated the IOD Class in the early 1990s, winning an unequalled three consecutive World Championships, has returned to the class and is eager to pick up where he left off.  Charlie Van Voorhis last claimed the Aas Trophy in 2016, and hopes that he can etch his name in the cup again at the end of the week, Finally, Northeastern University sailing coach Jonathan Farrar, will be trying to claim his sixth award.  Teams from Bermuda, Sweden, Canada, Maine, and Nantucket round out the field. Finally, Marblehead has a second team in the field, helmed by Carolyn Corbet and a team of Northeastern Sailing alumni — they will try their best to outsail their former coach.

The International One Design sloop has been a central figure in Marblehead one-design racing since 1938. These beautiful boats have never fallen out of favor.  In breezes heavy or light, you can count on almost perfect attendance from the IODs, every week of the racing season.  The Class endures in part because it has one of the strongest one-design rules in keelboat racing. 

By class rule, the boats the competitors will use in the World Championship are provided and equalized by the host Fleet. Marblehead currently has ten-race ready Internationals, and generous sailors from Fishers Island have delivered three additional boats to the harbor to create a thirteen-boat racing fleet, sufficient to accommodate the twelve competing teams plus one spare boat. To make sure that no competitor gains any unfair advantage, the teams change boats after every race, and owners are not permitted to sail their personal boat

The Racing fleet is anchored by the POMPANO (#45), built in 1937. She is an original member of the Marblehead Fleet, racing here every season since 1938.  She is joined by Marblehead woodies VAGABOND, GYPSY, VIKING, KUNGSORNEN, and SPIRIT, and local fiberglass boats ELEKTRA, TANGO, DESPERADO and JAVELIN.  The three visiting Fishers Island boats include NORWEGIAN WOOD, ETESIAN, and CREOLE.  Over the course of the the 2026 Championship, competitors will sail in up to ten different boats.  (and to make things even more fair, no team may sail a race in their personal boat)

The Eastern Yacht Club will run the racing, which will take place from Sunday through Friday just off Marblehead Neck. An International Jury has been empaneled, just in case there are issues that cannot be resolved on the racecourse. Results will be posted online, at www.marbleheadiod.com, and daily video updates will be posted on the International One Design channel on YouTube and Facebook.