World championships in sailing

World championships in sailing are world championships organised or sanctioned by World Sailing (formerly the International Sailing Federation or ISAF). As a sport, sailing has the largest number of world championships due to the diversity of equipment and disciplines.

Championships

The number of titles is due to the diversity of equipment. Sanctioned World Championships fall into the following categories:

World Sailing – Initiated Championships

World Sailing – Sanctioned World Championships

ISAF Open Match Racing World Championship (Presently awarded to the overall winner of the World Match Racing Tour originally a world sailing event)
Nations Cup
Offshore Racing Congress Rating System
- Currently ORCi
- former ORC Worlds include the IMS, IMS 500, IMS 670, 1/4 TON, 1/2 TON and 1 TON ClassWorld Championships
International Radio Sailing Association Class World Championships
- IRSA / 10 Rater World Championship
- IRSA / Radio A Class World Championship
- IRSA / Marblehead World Championships
- IRSA / One Metre World Championships
Extreme 40 World Championship (Authorised Once)
International Association for Disabled Sailing (IFDS) (from 1990s to 2014)
Blind Sailing World Championship originally recognised through IFDS
Blind Match Racing World Championship originally recognised through IFDS
Other Disabled Sailing World Championships (Such as none technical)
PWA World Championships also recognised as a special event

World Sailing Classes – None Fleet Racing

Formula 18 Raid Worlds (Coastal Fleet Racing)
Optimist Team Racing Worlds (Inter Country Team Racing)
International 14 Team Racing Worlds (Inter Country Team Racing)

World Sailing Classes – Fleet Racing

Classes that are members of World Sailing are entitled to hold World Championships if they are spread into a minimum of two continents and have certain number of nations and continents take part in two of the last three championships (the number of nations depend of the size of the equipment).