Kiwis win 49er World title in a cliff hanger at Quiberon
by Richard Gladwell/Sail-World.com/nz 17 May 16:45 PDT
Seb Menzies/George Lee Rush (NZL) with coaches Matt Steven (left) and Logan Dunning beck (right) - 2026 49er Worlds at Quiberon - Day 6 - May 17, 2026 © Sailing Energy
New Zealand crew of Seb Menzies and George Lee Rush won the 2026 49er World Championship in a cliffhanger of a Final race.
They added the world title to their open European Championship last year, more than justifying Seb Menzies' elevation to the role of co-helm on the Emirates Team New Zealand America's Cup - driving both the AC75 and AC40.
The Kiwis, who were on top of the leaderboard going into the Final day, looked to have the world championship in the bag after effecting a swift recovery early in the first of two Final Races sailed under the new weighted points system, officially described as a "Final series weighted to have the same scoring impact as the gold fleet races".
But in the final seconds before the start of the second Final, they got caught in a pin-end mêlée, and although they recovered, and moved up to second overall under the yo-yoing weighted points system after rounding the final mark of the race.
Menzies and Lee Rush looked to have their start under control in Final 1, restricted to just the top ten overall. But the Kiwis got caught in a bunch of boats at the pin end of the line, got pinned below Germany, who were third on the overnight leaderboard, and both looked to be heading for the less favoured side of the course. Fortuitously, the Austrian crew positioned on the Kiwis' hip, and preventing them from tacking, elected to make a break for the right-hand side of the course, and Menzies and Lee Rush grabbed the opportunity to duck behind the Germans and head right in clear air. They appeared to pick up better pressure and a higher angle, and were soon across the fleet.
From there, they stretched out to a comfortable win over the Dutch crew of Lambriex and van de Werken, who were chasing their fourth successive world championship win, with the German crew of Jakob Meggendorfer and Andreas Spranger third, in a very tight three-way finish with Austria 4th and Poland 5th. The Australian crew of Harry Price and Max Paul.
Conditions did not change for the second Final, with the crews easily able to twin wire in the NW breeze, flat seas, and grey overcast skies.
Menzies and Lee Rush looked set for a safe mid-line start that would have assured them of the title, but in the final seconds again got tangled with a group at the pin end of the start line - with four jumping the start line and getting red-lighted by the onboard Vakaros RaceSense system. The Kiwis were quick to return and restart, but looked to be struggling in eighth place near the back of the fleet.
That stumble on the start-line in the second Final, opened the series up to one where potentially five crews could win the world title.
Although they made the occasional gain, the Kiwis, who finished 22nd in the 2025 World Championships, were unable to reassert their authority on the fleet and the world title looked to be staying in Europe.
Around the top mark for the final time, Menzies and Lee Rush were 9th, but halfway down the leg found some pressure and a shift to pull up to fifth place, behind the Dutch crew, but ahead of their more immediate rivals on the overnight leaderboard - the Australian and German crews.
That fine display of sailing under intense pressure earned the World title for the young Kiwi crew, who now follow in the footsteps, of Peter Burling and Blair Tuke.
"I don't have words, that's for sure," replied Menzies to the inevitable "how does it feel" question from the on-the-water media. "It's amazing. I couldn't ask for anything more from this week," he added. "It was a stressful race, but we managed to make it back in the end."
"We did not make things easy for ourselves," said Lee Rush. "We went straight out the back door for most of the race, and we were just trying to work what was happening in front of us with everyone else."
"The points were just so tight between a bunch of us, and we could have gone all the way to fourth.
"We managed to get back just on the last downwind, and that was enough to do it."
"We're super stoked."
While the crew appeared to be in the process of snatching defeat from the jaws of victory, the way in which they won - never giving up, and always trying a new form of attack from the back of the fleet - will not have gone unnoticed by those who select the sailing squads for Emirates Team NZ, and it remains to be seen how long George Lee Ross remains outside the America's Cup squad. If nothing else, the America's Cup and SailGP League circuits have highlighted the vital role that combinations of sailors play in achieving winning outcomes.
Their stellar climb from 22nd overall in the 2025 Worlds to winning the World title a year later adds more dazzle to their new crown, and underlines the maxim that form is temporary, but class is permanent. Of course, they didn't come from nowhere - with a string of wins in two-handed classes at Junior and Youth level, going back to a 420 Open World Championship in Newport R! at the age of just 13yrs. Emulating the achievement of a 15-year-old Peter Burling in 2006 in the Canary Islands. Menzies finished 4th in the 2024 Moth Worlds sailed at Manly, NZ.
Whether Menzies and Lee Rush next sail together in an America's Cup squad or are made an offer they can't refuse by a SailGP team is one of the great imponderables of the next few months.
On Monday, Menzies heads for Cagliari, Sardinia, to compete in next weekend's America's Cup Preliminary Regatta, where he co-helms the Emirates Team NZ AC40, along with former World 49er champion, Nathan Outteridge.
George Le Rush heads for Germany, where he and Menzies will do some more training in the 49er, before returning to New Zealand at the end of May.
For the sailing statisticians, Seb Menzies becomes the youngest skipper in the 30yr history of the class to win a world title. Crew George Lee Rush just missed the same accolade, which is still retained by Australia's Iain Jensen, who was a month younger when he and Nathan Outteridge won the 2009 World Championship. But on a combined age basis, Menzies and Lee Rush are the youngest crew to win an Open 49er World Championship.
They are part of the third wave of young sailors who have made it through the various New Zealand development programs, to achieve success at Olympic, World Championship, and SailGP and America's Cup level.
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