By S.Browne. Updated 7:26 p.m., Thursday, August 20, 2026, Atlantic Standard Time (GMT-4).
Fifteen-year-old Vincentian sailor Kai Marks-Dasent has completed his first International Laser Class Association (ILCA) 6 World Championship after travelling directly from the Central American and Caribbean (CAC) Games in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, to Aarhus, Denmark.
Marks-Dasent represented St Vincent and the Grenadines at the ILCA 6 Youth World Championships, held from August 11 to 19, finishing 74th in the Under-17 fleet and 290th overall.
The Aarhus event marked Marks-Dasent’s first World Championship in the ILCA 6, but not his first experience competing internationally.
It came at the end of an intense run of competition for the young sailor, who had spent the previous week representing St Vincent and the Grenadines alongside Scarlett Hadley in the i420 Class at the CAC Games.
The pair finished sixth overall after 12 races, just missing out on fifth place to Barbados. Their performance was particularly notable because they had only been sailing the i420 for a matter of months and had never previously competed together in a double-handed boat.
Rather than returning home after the CAC Games, Marks-Dasent travelled directly to Denmark for his first ILCA 6 World Championship.
“Going to two regattas back to back and racing in winds up to 30 knots was a real challenge, but I learnt a lot and I can see what I need to work on to become a better sailor,” Marks-Dasent said.
The experience adds another major international test to a rapidly developing sailing career.
Marks-Dasent had already competed in international ILCA 6 events this year, including the Antigua ILCA Nationals, where he secured first place, Barbados Sailing Week, where he finished second, and the Midwinters East Championships in Miami. He has also represented St Vincent and the Grenadines at major international regattas including the UK Sailing Nationals, Barbados Youth Sailing Week, the Antigua ILCA Open and the Caribbean Dinghy Championships.
His progress in the ILCA 6 has been particularly notable since he began sailing the class in 2024. At the 2025 UK Sailing Nationals in Wales, he finished eighth in the Under-17 Silver Fleet in a field of 110 sailors, gaining experience in unfamiliar and challenging conditions.
At home, Marks-Dasent also established himself as one of SVG’s leading young ILCA 6 sailors, winning the 2025 SVG ILCA 6 National Championship after taking first place in eight of the 12 races.
His development has not been confined to competitive racing.
In May, Marks-Dasent completed a 70-mile solo sail from St Vincent to Grenada in an ILCA dinghy measuring less than 14 feet. He left Blue Lagoon at 5:41 a.m. and reached the northern tip of Grenada at 4:06 p.m., completing the journey in 10 hours and 25 minutes.
That voyage was the latest in a series of progressively longer solo sails. At 13, Marks-Dasent sailed from St Vincent to Bequia; at 14, he completed solo journeys to Mustique and Union Island before taking on the much longer Grenada crossing.
His achievements have also earned national recognition. In 2025, Marks-Dasent was named the Sylvester Simmons Young Sailor of the Year for a second consecutive year after representing St Vincent and the Grenadines at major regional and international regattas.
Now, having completed his first World Championship, Marks-Dasent has another major international opportunity ahead.
He is expected to compete at the World Sailing Youth World Championships in Portugal in December, giving him another chance to race against leading youth sailors and build on the experience gained in Denmark.
For Marks-Dasent, the back-to-back CAC Games and World Championship assignments represent another stage in a journey that has already taken him from local waters to regional competition and now to the global youth sailing circuit.
His long-term goal remains even bigger: representing St Vincent and the Grenadines at the Olympic Games.
For now, the teenager is continuing to accumulate the experience that could help take him there, one regatta, one race and one challenge at a time.
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