Four days of racing, 14 races, unpredictable winds and some of the most intense competition the ETF26 class has seen in recent memory. When the jury finally delivered its verdict at the GP Mar Menor, it was Blueshift Sailing Team : Henri Demesmaeke, Charles Dorange and Rasmus Rosengren, who emerged victorious. The margin? Just 0.5 points. Half a point separating champions from runners-up. That is the ETF26 class in a nutshell.
A championship that changed hands every day
What made this GP Mar Menor so special was the fact that no single team dominated from start to finish. Every day brought a new leader, a new story and a new twist.
Team Pro came out of the blocks fastest, taking control on Day 1 and setting the early pace with four race wins across the event. Consistent, aggressive and technically sharp, Tim Mourniac and his crew looked every bit like championship contenders from the very first race. Then came Day 2, and it was Entreprises du Morbihan who stepped up, leading the provisional standings after a strong and composed performance in building conditions. For a moment, the title looked like it could be heading their way.
But throughout all of this, one team was quietly doing something even more valuable than winning individual days. Blueshift Sailing Team were simply never out of it. Race after race, day after day, they accumulated points with a level of consistency that would ultimately prove decisive.
The final day :when it all came together
If the first three days were about positioning, Day 4 was about execution. With the leaderboard tighter than ever and the forecast delivering lighter, trickier conditions, the pressure on every team was immense.
Blueshift rose to the moment. Technically flawless and composed under pressure, they excelled across the final races and delivered their best performance of the event precisely when it mattered most. When Race 14 : the final race of the GP crossed the finish line, it was Blueshift who had done enough. Just. 0.5 points ahead of Team Pro. A result that will go down as one of the tightest finishes in recent ETF26 history.
Even Tim Mourniac of Team Pro could only take his hat off to the winners: “Blueshift was unbelievable on the water. Their speed was super nice, they sailed very well.” High praise from a fierce competitor ; and a testament to just how impressive Blueshift’s campaign was throughout.
A new crew, a new dynamic
One of the key stories of this GP was the arrival of Rasmus Rosengren as the team’s new trimmer, and by all accounts, the Swedish sailor slotted in seamlessly. “It was our first event with Rasmus as trimmer and it went really well,” said skipper Charles Dorange. “We found our rhythm quite quickly and from the start of the championship we kept building momentum in some great conditions ,it was really great.”
The combination of a Swedish, Belgian and French crew brings a genuinely European flavour to the team, and Dorange is clearly excited about what that dynamic can produce going forward. “It’s a great combo , We’ll try to maintain this momentum with this European crew.”
Foiling upwind : the game changer
Beyond the results, perhaps the most talked-about technical development of the GP Mar Menor was the fleet’s growing mastery of upwind foiling : a discipline that is rapidly redefining what the ETF26 is capable of. Flying above the water on the upwind legs demands extraordinary precision: rudder angle, foil settings, sail trim : everything has to be perfect, simultaneously.
Dorange was enthusiastic on the subject. “The big novelty is that we’re all flying upwind now and it’s pretty impressive. It demands a lot of precision on the rudder, the rudder settings and the foil, but it’s hugely interesting and it opens up a lot of doors.”
When conditions peaked on Day 3 with building breeze and an increasingly choppy sea state, the spectacle of six ETF26s foiling upwind at speed was something to behold. Fast, physical and technically breathtaking — this is the future of the class, and it is already here.
Final standings — GP Mar Menor 2026
🏆🥇 Blueshift Sailing Team 🇫🇷🇧🇪 — Henri Demesmaeke, Charles Dorange, Rasmus Rosengren
🥈 Team Pro 🇫🇷 — Tim Mourniac, Benjamin Amiot, Pierre-Yves Durand
🥉 Entreprises du Morbihan 🇫🇷 — Matthieu Salomon, Valentin Bellet, Solune Roberts
4️⃣ Toroa Racing Team 🇬🇧 — John Gimson, Anna Burnet, Mark Rijkse
5️⃣ Sansin Racing Team 🇨🇦 — Graeme Ross Sutherland, Kai Coleman, Severin Gramm
6️⃣ Team Sport Bams 🇫🇷 — Erwan Fischer, Clément Pequin, Yann Jauvin
Looking ahead
With the first GP of the 2026 season now in the books, Blueshift Sailing Team head into the rest of the championship with momentum, confidence and a winning combination on board. As Dorange put it simply: “Overall very happy, very pleased ; and very promising for the rest of the season. We’ll try to maintain this rhythm.”
The ETF26 season is officially underway. And if the GP Mar Menor is anything to go by, it is going to be a very good one. 🏆
