One Week to Go: 2026 European Championship Heads to Eckernförde

The countdown is officially on. In just seven days, the best 49er, 49erFX, and Nacra 17 sailors in Europe and plenty of visiting fleets from outside the continent will hit the water in Eckernförde, Germany, for the 2026 European Championship, running July 7–12.

It’s a fitting follow-on to what’s already been a huge month of racing in Germany. The Euros land just two weeks after Kiel Week 2026, and with the two events so close together geographically and on the calendar, a large number of teams simply stayed on in Germany to train rather than fly home and back. Expect sharp form lines heading into Eckernförde as a result.

Kiel Week Form: Who’s Hot Heading In
Kiel Week wrapped up on June 24 with a brand-new Sailing Grand Slam scoring format — fewer races, points reset between phases, and a top-ten Final Series to decide the podiums in the 49er and 49erFX. The Nacra 17 raced a straight cumulative series. With light, tricky winds all week, there was nowhere to hide.

In the 49er, it was Switzerland’s Joshua Richner and Nilo Schärer who came out on top, a result that suggests they could well be ones to watch in Eckernförde too.

In the 49erFX, Georgia and Antonia Lewin-Lafrance of Canada took the win, looking sharp and consistent all week. With that kind of form coming out of Kiel, they’ll be among the favourites heading into the Europeans.

And in the Nacra 17, Great Britain’s John Gimson and Anna Burnet were the standout team, dominant from start to finish. On that form, they’ll go into the European Championship as one of the teams to beat.

All three Kiel Week champions are entered in Eckernförde, so keep an eye on whether that momentum carries over onto a new piece of water.

Defending the 2025 European Titles
It’s also worth remembering who’s coming in as defending European Champion from Thessaloniki last June:

49er: New Zealand’s Seb Menzies and George Lee Rush, who secured the title with a day to spare and extended it to a 35-point margin by the end of the week — their first major title in the class. They’ve since gone on to win the 2026 World Championship too, making them winners of the two biggest, most important class regattas since last year.
49erFX: Canada’s Georgia and Antonia Lewin-Lafrance, who beat Germany’s Marla Bergmann/Hanna Wille by ten points in Thessaloniki — and who, as above, have arrived in great form having just won Kiel Week too.
Nacra 17: Great Britain’s John Gimson and Anna Burnet, who controlled the regatta from the front and are also fresh off a dominant Kiel Week win.
Two of the three reigning European Champions arrive in Eckernförde on the back of Kiel Week victories in the same boat — Lewin-Lafrance and Gimson/Burnet will be the teams everyone is chasing.

The Entries: Way Up From Last Year
The entry lists are in, and they’re big:

49er: 97 entries
49erFX: 55 entries
Nacra 17: 42 entries
That’s 194 boats on the start line across the three classes combined — which means 388 sailors racing in Eckernförde, representing well over 35 countries between the fleets, from the usual European heavyweights (Germany, France, Great Britain, Denmark, Italy, Spain, Sweden) to a genuinely global spread including the USA, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Korea, Hong Kong, India, Israel, Oman, South Africa, and more…

For comparison, last year’s Europeans in Thessaloniki had 118 boats and 236 sailors in total — so there are a lot more sailors on the water this time around in Eckernförde.

Full entry lists for 49er and 49erFX are on the event page, and the Nacra 17 entry list is on nacra17.org.

How to Follow Along
A quick heads-up: unfortunately, there will not be a livestream from Eckernförde this time. But we’re going to make sure you don’t miss a thing anyway. Here’s what to expect, every single day of the regatta:

Daily articles and race updates from the water
Social media posts and graphics with daily rankings
Story updates across our channels
Athlete interviews — we’ll be talking to a lot of sailors throughout the week
Race recap videos, in the same style as our World Championship coverage from Quiberon — here’s an example from the Worlds to give you a sense of what’s coming: watch the recap here

One week out, and the fleet is stacked. See you in Germany.