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The 2004 29er World Championship got underway with an Opening Ceremony on 23 August 2004. The Ceremony was attended by Russell Coutts who admitted that had the 20er been designed 20 years earlier he would definitely have sailed one!

A practice race was scheduled for 12.00 but many sailors did not participate due to the strong wind. The qualification series got underway on Tuesday with the fleet split into blue and yellow.

The first two races were started in a force 2-3 which later increased to force 4. The qualification races were completed on Wednesday in similar conditions to the previous day and the fleet then split for the final which began on Thursday. The gold fleet consisted on the top 25 boats from the qualification series with the remaining 59 boats making up the silver fleet. The first start was set for 11.00 but due to changing winds all racing was postponed until Friday.

The first start was set for 11.00 and the gold fleet got underway in a force 2 northerly wind. After one race was completed the wind died and further racing was postponed. By14.00 the wind had swung round to the South and two more races were completed for the Gold fleet and three for the Silver fleet. Leading the gold fleet at the end of the day was Tristan JAQUES and Alain SIGN from Great Britain.

The final day of the Championship, Saturday, the race committee had scheduled four races for each fleets with a 9.00 start. The Maloja-Wind kicked in after 10.00 and all races were sailed without a problem with pure sunshine and a force 4-5 wind.

The eventual winner was the British team of Tristan JAQUES and Alain SIGN followed by Lauri LEHTINEN and Mikka PENNANEN from Finland in second. The final podium spot went to the Australian team of David O'CONNER and Scott BABBAGE.

The best home team was Fabio MUELLER and Matthias KELLER who finished 15. Complete results and photos by the designer Julian BETHWAITE are available on the event website via the link below.