Wannes Van Laer vice world champion!

It’s from Bart Bomans race win in 2004 that we needed to wait for another Belgian win during a worlds event. Wannes Van Laer has won the 2nd race in his fleet during the 2026 worlds in Skovshoved (Denmark).

He successfully managed to get on the podium with a well deserved 2nd place, after 7 races, in a strong fleet of 203 boats.

Wannes sailed a very consistent series over all the races, for which he has been rewarded with the Paul Elvström Throphy for the lowest total points in the event. (29points : 11-1-2-4-3-6-2)

In his age group 40+ (veteran) he won the event, Matt Howard finished 2nd and Charly Cumblie completed the podium with a 3th place.

The popularity of the OK-class in Belgium was already growing, we hope that the recent success of Wannes gives our class another boost.

A more detailed report, with the very strong results from our 4 Belgian sailors, will follow in the report section.