Our latest Meet the Sailors feature is with Andrew Hewitt — the newly crowned 2025 Yachting World Dayboat National Champion, who claimed the title in spectacular fashion alongside his two sons. The Yachting World Dayboat fleet is one of the most fiercely competitive, family-friendly one-design classes in the UK, with close racing and a depth of talent throughout the fleet. The class remains refreshingly open to all sailmakers, inviting a variety of design philosophies within its carefully balanced rules. This year’s Dayboat Week was a truly special one for us at Sanders, as our sails powered boats to 1st, 2nd, and 3rd overall — a clean sweep that showcased both the strength of the class and the dedication of our sailors. So, we were absolutely thrilled when Andrew agreed to sit down with us to talk about his long connection with the YWDB class, what it means to his family, and what’s next after such a memorable championship win.
Sanders have been making sails for the Yachting World Dayboat for decades, and it’s fair to say the Hewitt family name is as synonymous with the YWDB as Dennis Conner is with the America’s Cup, or Sir Robin Knox-Johnston with solo sailing.
Andrew, how did you first get involved with this brilliant one-design class, and what makes it so special to you and your family?
My Father has been sailing DB’s for as long as I can remember and over the years it’s hard not to get dragged into it! It is a great class with lots of lovely people involved. I ended up buying a DB a couple of years ago when my 2 sons were getting to an age where they could get involved. Both of my brothers have DB’s too, so it really made sense that we could all get together and do some sailing and socialising.
Let’s dive into jib design – a topic that has sparked plenty of discussion in recent years. The class rules allow for notable variation, with careful attention needed to optimise luff length and sheeting angles. You were using our DB-MJ-2 design (often referred to as the “medium luff”) this season. Following detailed feedback from Peter Hewitt, we made small but meaningful refinements – including adjustments to the foot round. What are your thoughts on the current jib?
I’m really pleased with it. I was very confident, having looked at other recent jibs you’ve made, that it was going to be good. As you say, it’s been years in the making and many different approaches have been tried to get the sheeting angle sorted. When I bought my boat, Magic Roundabout, I put quite a bit of time into renovating her. One of the things I did was alter the jib tack attachment method making sure I could get the tack as far forward and down as possible. Setting up the boat with the new jib was easy and the boat was quick straight away.
I understand you’ll be catching up with Chris Sanders soon for a full debrief. In your view, how important is it to have a sailmaker you can collaborate with closely, offering feedback and working together on ongoing improvements?
Absolutely! And yes, it’s great to be able to pick up the phone and chat about the sails. Chris has been very generous with his time. I’ve visited the loft where Chris and I looked at a couple of things and we’re making plans for 2026, very exciting!
This interview follows your tremendous win at Dayboat Week, where you became National Champion with an outstanding set of results – taking 4 wins out of 5 races. We’d love to hear more about the regatta: how the week unfolded, what came together for you, and any key moments that led to such a dominant performance.
It was a great week for me and my 2 boys, who took it in turns crewing. RCYC set some great courses in the Fal and we had a week of North westerlies and racing on a, mostly, falling tide. We benefited massively with the wind strength, which was about 6-10 knots all week. This meant we were powered up and hiking most of the time with really good boat speed and height. On day 2 of the event we had 2 races in the Carrick roads and I had my youngest son, Max, crewing for me. There were lovely low-level cumulus clouds rolling in over the race course, and picking the dark clouds for the pressure and shifts paid massively. We took 2 bullets on the day and I really started to believe it was my week. Had it blown 20+ that day it might well have turned out very differently
Finally, the YWDB class looks to be as strong as ever – with high turnouts, a great family atmosphere, and events at fantastic venues like Poole, Falmouth, and Rock. How would you describe the appeal of the YWDB, and how can others get involved?
Yes, the class does seem to be on the up with attendance figures and when you look at the home clubs of boats attending the Nationals, there are quite a few new clubs on there. For me, with the family ties and 2 kids to introduce to sailing, the boat was a no-brainer. It’s slow and forgiving but rewarding when you’re getting it right with good close racing. For anyone wanting to get involved, there are some very keen class members who have clubbed together to ensure there’s a good boat or two that are available to borrow. Get in touch with the class association for more info.