The Foil Weekly Wrap - 9 March '26

Legends, records, and wild weather dominated the sailing world this week, with Paul Cayard finally claiming his white whale, Hetairos tearing up the record books in Antigua, and the first AC75 of this Cup cycle to hit the water tomorrow.

After 45 years of chasing the Bacardi Cup, Paul Cayard has finally claimed it. The American sailing legend – last month named 2025 Rolex Yachtsman of the Year – teamed up with German Olympian Frithjof Kleen to win the 99th edition in Miami, holding off a final-race showdown with 5-time Olympic medallist Robert Scheidt that will be replayed for years.

With just three points separating the pair heading into the decider, Cayard deployed every America's Cup match-racing trick in his armoury – engaging Scheidt before the gun, pushing both boats deep behind the fleet, and effectively neutralising his rival's speed advantage before the race had begun. Scheidt fought back heroically, carving through the fleet to finish tenth, but it wasn't enough. The final margin was a single point.

The fleet that gathered in Coconut Grove was typically stacked: 17 Olympians, six Olympic medallists, three Olympic champions, and 14 Star World Champions. Mateusz Kusznierewicz and Bruno Prada completed the podium, while the Bacardi Invitational Regatta running alongside crowned champions in the J/70, Melges 24, VX One, and Snipe classes – all decided on the final day in near-perfect Biscayne Bay conditions. Next year marks the historic 100th Bacardi Cup, and if this edition was any indication, the centenary celebration will be unmissable.

The 200 Millas A2 this year celebrated its 40th anniversary, doubling as the ORC Double-Handed European Championship and delivering a tactical masterclass off the coast of Altea. The format combined a 37-mile short offshore race with a 200-mile loop around Ibiza and Formentera – and conditions made both tests utterly demanding. Weather models couldn't agree, calm patches compressed the fleet, and the leading boats took over 36 hours to complete the long race, making it one of the slowest editions in recent memory.

Consistency proved decisive across all three classes. In Class A, Javier Arbona and Bruno Garcia's ZIVING took the European title with a second and a third, edging out FORMULA X (last year's ORC World Champion in full-crew Class B, who this year made an impressive double-handed debut). Class B went to FALAPOUCO, sailed by José Ballester and Andrés Manresa, a partnership spanning three decades, while AURORA claimed Class C honours for Javier Lledó and Jesús del Toro. Next up for ORC devotees: the Worlds in Sorrento (4-14 May), followed by the Double-Handed Worlds in Scheveningen (18-25 May).

The Caribbean's favourite week of serious fun delivered on both counts this year, with conditions testing the limits of the diverse fleet that makes St. Maarten so distinctive. Winds held steady around 18-20 knots for most of the regatta before the grand finale cranked things up a notch – gusts over 35 knots, boats disappearing behind swells, and several teams reefing down just to survive. The Diam 24 fleet had two capsizes during the sail back from Grand Case, where their second annual Beach Stadium Racing series had drawn crowds to the shoreline for five quick-fire races just offshore.

Class honours were spread across the fleet, with Privateer continuing their dominant run in CSA1, influence2 nearly unbeaten in CSA3, and Jackknife taking CSA4 after a dramatic final-day leaderboard reshuffle. The regatta's final day fell on International Women's Day, spotlighting the many female sailors throughout the fleet – including 17-year-old skipper Veronica Destin, who took the helm of SMYC Sunfast just a few years after winning the Next Generation Race.

Strong trade winds turned the 15th Superyacht Challenge Antigua into a record-breaking spectacle. The star performance came on the opening day when the 218ft ketch Hetairos, with a crew of 47, demolished the Round Antigua Race record by more than 25 minutes – completing the 48-mile course in 3 hours 20 minutes at an average of 14.45 knots. Remarkably, that's also quicker than Leopard 3's recent RORC Antigua 360 record over the same course. Captain Graham Newton credited marginal gains around the island, including improved charting that allowed them to sail closer to shore near Green Island. His reward? The Stan Pearson Trophy – and his skipper's weight in rum.

Hetairos went unbeaten to claim Privateers Performance, while Rebecca took Privateers Class after a tense final-race battle with Adix, and Linnea Aurora and Geist held perfect scores in Corsairs and Buccaneers respectively. International Women's Day put a spotlight on Georgia Poublan, captain of the 108ft Namuun and one of very few female superyacht captains in the industry. Her crew retired from the final race after a winch failure, but the decision earned them the Rebecca Trophy for Spirit of Tradition.

The Gosnell Trophy, awarded by competitor vote for racing in the spirit of the event, went to the 213ft three-masted schooner Adix – competing in her first Superyacht Challenge Antigua and clearly making an impression both on and off the water.

Emirates Team New Zealand put Taihoro back in the water tomorrow, making it the first AC75 to sail in the AC38 cycle. The boat has undergone around 10,000 hours of yard work since Barcelona, repurposed under AC38's cost-containment rules – same hull, but new control systems, new hydraulics, and that most visible change: the cyclors are gone. In their place sits a standardised battery system, and the crew grows from four to five sailors, fundamentally reshaping how the boat is sailed.

It'll be fascinating to see how the crew get on with their next-gen AC75 – the lighter boat should mean earlier takeoff in marginal conditions, but with only three of the sailing squad having AC75 experience, the early days will be all about familiarisation. The Foil's Tom 'Mozzy' Morris will be all over the technical side as ETNZ get up to speed – expect plenty more analysis to come.

9-14 March, Vilamoura, Portugal

53 teams from 20 nations gather in Vilamoura for the 470 Europeans, the first major test of the LA28 Olympic cycle. Defending champions Jordi Xammar and Marta Cardona arrive as favourites, though British pair Martin Wrigley and Bettine Harris (silver in 2025) and France's Matisse Pacaud and Lucie De Gennes (bronze) will be hunting them down. The championship features a new medal series format designed to increase final-day jeopardy: five races in qualification, seven in the finals, then two medal races on Saturday to decide it.

6–15 March, Sydney, Australia

Defending champion Yandoo has won both opening races on Sydney Harbour, and the conditions couldn't have been more different. Race 1 was a straightforward affair, while Race 2 started in 20-plus knots of southerly and finished in blindingly heavy rain with almost no wind at all. John Winning Jr, Fang Warren, and Lewis Brake hold a six-point lead over the two Shaw and Partners entries (one Australian, one Kiwi) with seven races still to sail. Racing resumes Tuesday with Races 3 and 4, building towards the final showdown on Sunday 15 March.

9–14 March, Concarneau, France

The Figaro Beneteau season gets underway in Concarneau with the Solo Guy Cotten – the only single-handed event before the Solitaire du Figaro, which this year has been brought forward to May. That calendar shift has compressed preparation time for the 39-strong fleet, but also raised the stakes: with just one solo race to sharpen up before the main event, every mile counts. The format runs two short coastal races (today and Tuesday), then an offshore race starting Wednesday that keeps the fleet at sea until Friday.

13–15 March, Miama, USA

The M32 fleet continues to thrive in Miami. Eleven boats lined up for the most recent event – one of the largest fields in years – with Ryan McKillen's Surge taking back-to-back victories. The fleet is stacked with Olympians, America's Cup tacticians and SailGP athletes, but at its core it's built on passionate owners who just love to race fast. The M32 World Championship is scheduled for Miami this autumn.

11–14 March, Mar Menor, Spain

The ETF26 circuit opens its ninth season in Murcia with a significant evolution: the foiling catamarans now fly upwind as well as down. New rudder winglets, new Verdier-designed foils and a revised North Sails package mean the boats are airborne from around 7 knots downwind and 10 knots upwind – a significant step closer to AC40 territory. Eight teams are entered, including 2024 49er World Champions Clément Péquin and Erwan Fischer, plus reigning Nacra 17 World Champions John Gibson and Anna Burnet. The class is positioning itself as a bridge between Olympic sailing and professional circuits, with America's Cup and SailGP teams among the targets.

The Globe40 fleet is clawing its way up the South Atlantic after rounding Cape Horn, and it's been brutal. Winds of 56-61 knots were recorded across several boats last week, and the leading crew on Crédit Mutuel have watched their 600-mile advantage shrink to less than 150nm as Belgium Ocean Racing–Curium surfs the low-pressure systems. By the weekend, they could be neck-and-neck approaching Recife. Around 1,000nm still to go – track the fleet here.