The 2026 World Sailing Women's Match Racing World Championship begins Thursday on San Francisco Bay, with 12 top teams from seven countries facing four days of tide-heavy, breeze-laden racing in identical J/22s.
Defending champion Pauline Courtois of France arrives seeking her sixth consecutive title with Match in Pink by Normandy Elite Team. The symmetrical-spinnaker J/22 presents a particular challenge for the French crew, who lack regular access to similar boats at home. "In France, we don't have a symmetrical-spinnaker boat available for regular training," Courtois said. "Adapting quickly to it will be an important part of our preparation."
American skipper Allie Blecher, representing California Yacht Club with Team BAAM!, considers the Bay familiar territory despite her Southern California origins. "The Bay can throw pretty much anything at you, so even some of the world's best sailors may struggle," she said. "It's a venue that brings out the best and the worst in everything, which is why I like it."
Blecher believes the title remains genuinely contested. "Everybody's beatable—I've beaten Pauline, Nicole's beaten her," she said, referencing fellow American Nicole Breault of StFYC's Vela Racing Team. Breault, who won the 2025 U.S. Women's Match Racing Championship, acknowledged that local knowledge offers early advantage but noted: "You make a mistake and it's very obvious. Then you realize how much you need to compensate."
New Zealand's Megan Thomson returns to match racing after an extraordinary month that included co-skippering an IMOCA across the Atlantic in The Ocean Race Atlantic 2026 and competing at the New York Yacht Club's inaugural Women's International Championship. Thomson's recent transatlantic IMOCA experience ended with a sixth-place finish on 12 September after nine days, seven hours and 40 minutes. A former world No. 1 who finished third when RNZYS last hosted this championship in 2022, Thomson leads 2.0 Racing for the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron alongside Josi Andres, Maddie Rist and Tinka Visser. Andres has raced internationally with Thomson since 2022, winning silver at both the 2024 and 2025 Women's Match Racing Championships.
The regatta format begins with a full round-robin among all 12 teams, with the top eight advancing to quarterfinals. Knockout stages continue through semifinals to a Grand Final where the first to three match wins claims the world title. Racing begins at 1030 hours local time on 1 October, with the event running through 4 October.
