The week in racing - 28 Sep ‘26

It's been a busy week across the board. In Naples, Peter Burling got one over on his old team to win the second Louis Vuitton Preliminary Regatta, while on the Solent, Pietro Loro Piana and his crew ended a 15-year wait on a nail-biting final day. Out in the Bay of Biscay, the big multihulls went flat out through the night for one last shakedown before the Route du Rhum.

The action doesn't stop there. The Offshore Double-Handed World Championship final gets underway in Marseille, and 12 teams head to San Francisco Bay to try to end Pauline Courtois's five-year reign.

Here's the round-up.

A year out from racing for the Auld Mug on the Bay of Naples, Luna Rossa have laid down a marker. Peter Burling's crew won the second Louis Vuitton Preliminary Regatta, beating his old team Emirates Team New Zealand by 17 seconds in the match race final. A repeat of Cagliari in May.

Never lower than sixth in the fleet racing, the Italians went into the last day eight points clear and signed off with two more wins. The Kiwis sealed the other spot in the final with second in race seven, ending the hopes of Tudor Team Alinghi and the French.

Nathan Outteridge had the better of the pre-start, but Team New Zealand came off the line slow and handed Luna Rossa an early lead. From there, Burling pinned the Kiwis against the boundary and shut the door every time they opened it.

"We're going to race here next year, so this was the important one," said Marco Gradoni, promoted to the senior boat alongside Maria Giubilei for Naples.

For New Zealand, the starts are the worry. Too early in Cagliari, and too late in Naples. Behind them, La Roche-Posay Racing Team finished third overall despite only scoring six of their eight races, a race five capsize costing Delapierre and Botín a shot at the final. Newcomers ARC Team USA also scored an impressive finishing fourth.

The regatta was a great taste of what’s to come in 2027. Full report here.

In the more traditional, non-foiling world of monohull racing, the 44 Cup World Championships concluded on Sunday, with Aleph Racing claiming the title after 15 years of attempts.

Aqua’s two bullets on Saturday weren’t enough to shake off the more consistent eventual winners who led by just a single point going into the final day. Pietro Loro Piana and the Aleph crew twice snatched it back on the final run, three seconds clear of Aqua in race one, then two seconds ahead in race two after climbing back from last.

"It was only when Chris [Blake] threw me in the water that I realised what we'd done," said Loro Piana, on the receiving end of the 44 Cup winner's tradition. "This week the boys have sailed so well that they made me look good."

Behind them, season leaders Gemera Racing took third, winning two races along the way. Reigning champions Team Nika found their form a tad late; their last three races of 1-3-1 left the team fourth and just one point off the podium.

Full results can be found here.

Five weeks out from the Route du Rhum, the 24H Ultim in Lorient became a flat-out dress rehearsal for the trimarans, and both defending champions held on to their crowns.

A breeze that built through Friday evening saw race management add 85 miles to both courses. Tom Laperche led the four Ultims from start to finish aboard SVR-Lazartigue, covering 504 miles at an average of 27.3 knots and crossing the line off Groix just over ten minutes ahead of Armel Le Cléac'h aboard Banque Populaire XI.

Basile Bourgnon did the same in the Ocean Fifty fleet, leading all 11 boats wire to wire on Edenred ahead of Mathieu Perraut ELvest and Léonard Legrand Sodebo.

With the Route du Rhum leaving Saint-Malo on 1 November, both go in as favourites. Full results here.

The coastal sailing scene also saw the Offshore Double-Handed World Championships kick off on the 2024 Olympic waters of Marseille.

2025 champion Thomas Andre returns, this time as skipper and with a new partner in Colimbe Julia. Andre's previous champion skipper, Théa Khelif, absent and targeting the start line of the Route du Rhum.

The new French pairing has qualified for the 11-boat final that is set to take place on Wednesday 30th September and will finish on Friday 2nd October.

Interestingly, the Belgian pair of Tassin and Gercken have qualified ahead of Andre and Julia and are also set for the start of the Route du Rhum. It’s a battle worth following.

Meanwhile, with ten of the 11 final spots decided already, a repechage race is currently underway and will define the last spot in the final.

You can watch the racing play out via the tracker.

St. Francis Yacht Club hosts the Women's Match Racing World Championship on San Francisco Bay from 30 September to 4 October. 

Twelve invited teams from seven nations will be chasing Pauline Courtois, and her Match in Pink by Normandy Elite Team, who have won the last five world titles and arrive as world number one.

Sweden's Anna Östling leads this year's Women's World Match Racing Tour, while New Zealand's Megan Thomson was runner-up at the World Championship in the two previous editions. Thompson also comes fresh from co-skippering MSIG Europe in The Ocean Race Atlantic.

Home hopes rest with Nicole Breault, the reigning US champion sailing out of the host club, but six straight for Courtois would be quite the statement.

You can follow the results via the event website.