Royal Huisman Celebrates 2026 Conny van Rietschoten Trophy Winners
By Stephen Yardley · Edited by Stephen Yardley
Image: Royal Huisman
Royal Huisman has highlighted the 2026 winners of the Conny van Rietschoten Trophy, named after the Dutch offshore sailor behind the Flyer programme.
Royal Huisman has highlighted the 2026 winners of the Conny van Rietschoten Trophy, the leading Dutch sailing award named after the offshore sailor who commissioned both Flyer racing yachts from the yard. The award keeps that offshore-racing legacy connected with current Dutch sailing achievement.
The 2026 main award went to Willem Wiersema following his performance at the ILCA 7 World Championships in Qingdao. Additional prizes recognised achievements in foiling, coaching and other branches of Dutch watersport.
Van Rietschoten remains the only skipper to have won the Whitbread Round the World Race twice. Both successful campaigns used yachts named Flyer, built by Royal Huisman and prepared around an unusually rigorous testing and reliability programme.
That history gives the award a direct connection with the shipyard even though today’s winners compete in very different sailing disciplines. The Flyer name remains one of the yard’s most important links with international competitive sailing.
By supporting attention around the trophy, Royal Huisman connects current Dutch sailing success with the engineering and sporting culture that helped establish its reputation. Heritage is therefore used as a living part of the brand rather than as a separate museum story.
The 2026 results also show the breadth of modern sailing, ranging from Olympic-style dinghy classes to coaching and team disciplines. The trophy provides a common framework for recognising those achievements across the Dutch watersports community.
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