15-year-old Team Allen Sailor from South Devon, Charlie MacKenzie, delivered a remarkable performance at the 2025 Topper World Championships, held in Medemblik, The Netherlands, securing second place overall and firmly establishing himself among the best young sailors in the world.
Facing fierce international competition from over a dozen countries—including the USA, China, South Africa, and across Europe—Charlie rose to the challenge in a week marked by unpredictable and extreme conditions. From violent thunderstorms and gusts over 30 knots to complete windless drift days, the event tested every sailor’s resilience and skill. Through it all, Charlie remained calm, consistent, and determined.
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In a spectacular display of skill, consistency, and high-performance gear, France’s Enzo Ballanger has claimed the title of 2025 International Moth World Champion. Representing Team Allen through its French distributor, XPO, Enzo sailed fully equipped with Allen hardware to a dominant victory at Fraglia Vela Malcesine.
A Flawless Week
Facing a fleet of 137 top sailors from 25 nations — including Olympic veterans, America’s Cup tacticians and SailGP stars — Enzo held his nerve through Lake Garda’s shifting conditions to finish 12 points clear of silver medalist Tom Slingsby (AUS) and with New Zealander Jacob Pye in third. His impressive final score of 15 points was built on commanding leads throughout qualifying and finals, reinforced by a strong 4th place in the final race.
Enzo himself reflected: “We’ve just wrapped up the Moth World Championship and I’m the new World Champion!… Winning this title was truly a lifelong dream… The boat was fast, everything went smoothly — just amazing.”
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First-ever solo, non-stop circumnavigation of the UK & Ireland by a wheelchair user
Project FEAR, an extraordinary solo sailing voyage by Jazz Turner, has concluded successfully: she became the first disabled person – and specifically the first wheelchair user – to sail non-stop and unassisted around the UK and Ireland. Departing from Brighton on 2 June, Jazz completed the challenging 2,070-mile circumnavigation in 28 days, returning to Brighton Marina on 30 June 2025.
About the Voyage
Boat & Route: Jazz sailed her 1975 Albin Vega, named FEAR (Face Everything And Rise), through the English Channel, Irish Sea, Atlantic Ocean, North Sea, and around Shetland.
Challenges at Sea: She endured seasickness, extreme weather, and physical exhaustion, including a grounding off Folkestone on 29 June. She successfully refloated FEAR unaided at high tide and continued her mission.
Health & Adaptations: Living with terminal Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome—including seizures, fainting, and severe joint pain—Jazz overcame serious health obstacles and adapted her boat with wind generators, satellite nav, solar panels, and tailored sail systems.
At Allen, we’re always refining performance through engineering innovation. That’s why we’re excited to introduce the Acetal Pivoting Mast Step – a lightweight, cost-effective evolution of our popular Aluminium Pivoting Mast Step.
First developed as a breakthrough in the dinghy and small keelboat market, our original aluminium pivoting mast step was inspired by the ball-and-cup design commonly found on catamarans. However, instead of multi-directional articulation, our step offers controlled fore-and-aft pivot within the mast step channel. This allows for dynamic rig tuning on the water without compromising mast alignment or deck integrity.
Now, we’ve taken everything great about that original design and, in partnership with Jon Turner, we have made it even more accessible.
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