The week in racing - 7 Sep ‘26

It's been a big week on the water – a nail-biting transatlantic sprint, a shock SailGP final in Valencia, and a run of world championships kicking off from Weymouth to Cascais.

The Ocean Race Atlantic is proving impossible to call. After days of breakneck downwind sailing across the North Atlantic, the leading pack has concertinaed together again as a stubborn ridge of high pressure blocks the final run into Lorient. At the latest check-in, DMG MORI Global One held a narrow overall lead, Kojiro Shiraishi's crew benefiting from a bold southerly line that paid off handsomely after they'd been left stuck in a windless patch just days before.

As DMG MORI crew member Arisa Moriya explained: “We have been sailing with a low pressure system, but now we are getting out of the strongest part, and soon we will cross a high pressure system. Then we will have light wind upwind conditions followed by reaching/downwind. So we will have everything over the next few days. We need to sail fast and make good sail choices and just keep pushing.”

Paul Meilhat's United by the Ocean and Francesca Clapcich's 11th Hour Racing are snapping at their heels, separated by a handful of miles, while Boris Herrmann's Team Malizia keeps clawing back ground despite a battered foil and an autopilot failure earlier in the race. It's been a brutal stretch out there, and Clapcich didn't sugarcoat it: “The sea state was terrible and, with the angle of the waves, it was really painful. It takes more mental energy than physical energy.”

With the top three still within 11 nautical miles of each other after travelling over 1700nm from New York, and a light-wind lottery still to navigate, this one could come down to the wire into France. Track the fleet here.

Over in Switzerland, Simon Bovay delivered a masterclass at Leg 6 of the Finn Grand Slam, taking line honours in six of seven races at Silvaplana (one blemished by an early OCS) to seal an all-Swiss podium ahead of Peter Theurer and Christoph Burger. Two days were lost when the Maloja wind failed to show, but what racing there was delivered in spades – tight mark roundings, hard-fought battles, and smiles all round at one of the circuit's most spectacular venues. Grand Slam Berlin starts this week. Full results here.

Valencia's final was tight all the way to the last leg, and it was the U.S. SailGP Team who came out on top. Taylor Canfield's crew clawed back from an early setback against Tom Slingsby's Bonds Flying Roos, working the shifty breeze better than anyone else on the course before shutting the door at the last mark for their second event win of the season.

After the surprisingly light conditions of Valencia, Canfield was quick to push back on the idea they're just a light-air outfit: “I'd say we're more of an all-around team now, but we love these conditions. We feel very comfortable throwing the boat around and we're confident in our decisions. We'll take it, and we're going to have a lot more of these conditions coming up. We're ready for them.”

Australia took second, Red Bull Italy claimed a first-ever final appearance in third, and Rockwool Denmark rounded out fourth. The win lifts the Americans to third overall, keeping their Abu Dhabi Grand Final hopes firmly alive with three events still to play for.

Weymouth throws open its doors this week for the iQFOiL World Championships, with the Olympic windsurfing class returning to the same waters that hosted the 2012 Games. Racing runs from Monday through to Saturday's Medal Series, with 187 athletes from 41 nations chasing the season's biggest prize and another proper look at the road to LA 2028.

Home favourites Andy Brown and Emma Wilson will defend their world titles, but neither will have it easy. Brown faces European champion Luuc van Opzeeland, Olympic champion Tom Reuveny and 2024 world champion Nicolò Renna, while Wilson goes up against European champion Tamar Steinberg and Olympic champion Marta Maggetti. The Foil will be streaming the final three days of racing on YouTube. Track results here.

Porto Cervo throws its doors open for the 36th Maxi Yacht Rolex Cup this week, and it's shaping up to be one of the most star-studded fleets of the year. Racing gets underway today and runs through to Saturday, with two world titles up for grabs among more than 40 maxis over 60 feet – plus six multihulls making their event debut.

The Maxi 1 class sees WallyCento Galateia defending its crown with Murray Jones and Kelvin Harrap calling the shots, chased hard by Magic Carpet E and the ClubSwan 80 My Song with Paul Cayard aboard. Over in Maxi Grand Prix, Django 7x defends against a who's who of America's Cup and Olympic talent, including Bella Mente, Jethou and the brand new Northstar III, making her debut in the class. A new crew bonus for women and under-21 sailors is a nice touch too, and with the Maddalena Archipelago as a backdrop, this one's always as much a spectacle as a contest. Track results here.

Dublin Bay picks up the baton from last week's ILCA 7 Worlds as the National Yacht Club and Royal St George host the ILCA 6 Women's World Championship from 5–12 September, with 108 sailors from 44 countries lining up for the title. Reigning champion Louise Cervera heads the fleet, alongside fellow 2025 medallists Agata Barwinska and home favourite Eve McMahon, who claimed Ireland's first-ever senior world medal in the class last year.

But the story everyone will be watching is Rio 2016 silver medallist Annalise Murphy's return to top-level racing, eight months after becoming a mother, back on the waters where she first learned to sail. As Murphy tells it, the comeback wasn't exactly planned: “This summer I was out watching some of the lads training in the ILCA 7, and I thought, ‘That looks really nice – maybe I should hop back in my boat,’ not really thinking the Worlds would be a possibility. Two months later, here I am about to start.”

She's not getting carried away, though: “I'm very aware of the standard of the fleet – everyone's full-time, at such a high level. All these girls are aiming for the LA Olympics, and that's not on my horizon. I know I'm probably not quite going to be on the pace, but I'm hoping I get some good starts, and if it's shifty, I know the bay really well. My goal is to try and have a few good races – if I can make it into the Gold Fleet, I'd be delighted.” Track results here.

Cascais hosts a bumper J/70 Worlds this week, with a record 26 nations and 102 teams competing in Portugal from 8–12 September. The USA brings the biggest contingent at 18 boats, but what sets this fleet apart is the sheer depth of talent: Spain's five-boat squad alone counts several world champions among its skippers, among them Luis Albert on Patakin and Joan Cardona Méndez on Yupi, while Brazil's fleet includes double Olympic medallist Lars Grael calling tactics.

The Americans are just as stacked, led by the likes of Peter Duncan's Relative Obscurity and Bruce Golison's Midlife Crisis, and the home fleet will be cheering on Nuno Espírito Santo Silva's Baba, with multiple world champion Hugo Rocha calling tactics. With that much pedigree on the start line, it could be anyone's championship. Full entry list here.

Bart's Bash returns this weekend, 12–13 September, sailing's biggest global celebration and fundraiser, run in memory of Andrew ‘Bart’ Simpson. Since launching in 2014, it's grown into the world's largest sailing event – the inaugural edition alone pulled in over 700 clubs from more than 60 countries and earned a Guinness World Record for the largest sailing race held in 24 hours.

Affectionately nicknamed ‘Bart’, the British sailor won Star class gold alongside Iain Percy at Beijing 2008, then added silver in London four years later, before his career was cut tragically short in 2013 when the AC72 he was crewing capsized during America's Cup training on San Francisco Bay. Clubs and watersports communities worldwide take part in his honour – race, paddle, volunteer or just turn up, it's all in the spirit of getting people on the water. Get involved here.