New nations, new milestones and a need for speed on day two in Portimão

Day two of the World Sailing Inclusion Championships (Tuesday 6 October) brought more personal milestones, growing confidence and increasingly competitive racing, as athletes from established and first-time nations continued to make their mark in Portugal.

Among them was Australia’s Simon Bibby, competing in the inaugural Inclusive Wingfoil event and continuing a journey driven by one thing: speed.

A spinal cord injury in 2020 left Bibby using a wheelchair, and his route back onto the water began through Sailability and the Hansa 303 class. He progressed quickly, reaching the World Championships in Pittwater last year and finishing around mid-fleet in his first international event.

But something was still missing. “I was still chasing speed,” Bibby said.

That search led him to seated wing foiling. After seeing footage of French rider Guillaume Colin foiling, Bibby knew immediately that it was something he wanted to try.

Months later, he joined the first Australian Para Wing Foiling camp and began learning a discipline still developing around adaptive equipment, technique and balance.

The progress has been demanding, but the feeling when everything comes together is what keeps him coming back.

“Flying is just surreal,” he said. “It is just crazy fun. I’m hooked.”

For Bibby, para inclusive wing foiling is another example of finding a different route back to the things he loves.

“Through life we have challenges and you’ve just got to go around and find a way,” he said.

“Foiling reminds me of windsurfing. I was windsurfing in the 1980s. Robby Naish and Björn Dunkerbeck were my idols. I still follow Björn now. The speeds that guy is doing are crazy, and he’s not even foiling.”

Bibby is now competing alongside his own foiling inspiration – Guillaume Colin – at these Championships, with the Frenchman among the frontrunners in the Inclusive Wingfoil demonstration event after winning three of the four races staged today. He’s in second overall, with Great Britain’s Charlie Wolf currently leading the pack.

The sense of discovery that Bibby describes is also reflected among the nations competing at these Championships for the first time.

Vietnam’s Tran Qoc Phung, racing in the Inclusive Two Person Keelboat (Hansa 303), described the opportunity simply as a chance to race internationally, experience Portuguese waters and share the event with sailors from around the world.

“I’m very happy to be here,” he said. “I hope in the future I can come back and enjoy it more and more.”

Barbados’ Daniel McCollin is also relishing the learning experience: “My expectation is just to put my best foot forward and do as well as I can. It’s my first time sailing this boat, so I’m still getting a feel for it. But I’m enjoying it.”

Another milestone came in the Para Intellectual Impairment (ILCA 6), where Trinidad and Tobago’s Ivan Stollmeyer celebrated his 12th birthday on the water. The youngest competitor at the Championships is also taking part in his first major international event.

Across the racecourses on Tuesday, the standings began to take clearer shape.

Finland fill the top three positions in the Para Inclusive One Person Technical Keelboat (2.4mR) standings after five races. Marko Dahlberg continues to lead the fleet, ahead of Niko Salomaa and Rikard Bjurström, picking up two race wins and a second today.

Portugal’s Rodrigo Pereira continued an impressive run in the Inclusive Cognitive Impairment (ILCA 6) fleet, winning two out of three races today to lead from compatriot José Campos, with Hong Kong’s Tsz Hin Cheung topping the standings in the Para Intellectual Impairment event.

Lucy Hodges, Jamie Tylecote, Liam Cattermole and Steve Tylecote (GBR 2) maintained an unbeaten record in the Vision Impairment event, raced in RS21s, adding three more race wins. Spain’s Dani Anglada Pich, Carmen Lopez Garcia, Jordi Sánchez Pérez and Monica Azon Canalda advanced to second in the league standings.

Great Britain’s James Coxon bounced back from a first day startline penalty with three straight race wins in the Para Inclusive Multihull (Challenger). He takes the overall lead from compatriot Val Millward with Bex Foulsham rounding off a British top three after five races.

Swedish pair Fia Fjelddahl and Patric Rosenberg remain in pole position in the Para Inclusive Two Person Keelboat (RS Venture Connect) event, picking up two more race wins on Tuesday. But Spain’s Pau Toni Homar and Ramón Gutiérrez are in hot pursuit, just one point behind.

In the Inclusive Two Person Keelboat (Hansa 303), Poland’s Piotr Cichocki and Joanna Cichocka also continued to set the early pace, adding a race win and a second to their scorecard. Portugal’s Carlos Santos and João Pinto are second, while Korea’s Mun Sungwon and Dongjin Yun were third, level on points with Oman’s Malik Al Qartoubi and Ghalya Al Jabri.

The Para Inclusive One Person Keelboat (Hansa 303) remains hotly contested, with France’s Gauthier Bril taking over the top spot after three races, but still tied on points with Poland’s Piotr Cichocki and Jens Kroker of Germany.

With more racing still to come, the standings are tightening across the fleets. But alongside the competition, the Championships are also providing a testing ground for new ideas, new disciplines and new pathways into the sport.

Inclusive Wingfoil is one of them, and Bibby concluded he hopes its first appearance here can be the start of something much bigger.

“Let’s get Brisbane happening. Brisbane ’32,” he said.

“If I get there, I get there. But if we can at least get [the discipline] there, I’ll support it — be there, help out.”

“Give other people an experience of something that is so cool.”

The 2026 World Sailing Inclusion Championships in Portimão, Portugal, continues until Saturday 10 October, and is delivered in partnership with Vela Solidária, the Municipality of Portimão, and the Portuguese Sailing Federation with backing from The America’s Cup.