Five straight world titles and a J/22 fleet that asks the champion to race with a spinnaker she rarely trains on. The Women’s Match Racing Worlds open on San Francisco Bay.
Pauline Courtois arrives in San Francisco with five consecutive world championship titles and a problem she has named herself. The French skipper, who leads the Match in Pink by Normandy Elite Team at the 2026 World Sailing Women’s Match Racing World Championship, is not worried about the Bay’s breeze or its tides. She is worried about the spinnaker.
“In France, we don’t have a symmetrical-spinnaker boat available for regular training, so we have less opportunity to practice with this type of setup,” Courtois said. “It makes the boat quite challenging for us, and adapting quickly to it will be an important part of our preparation.”
The championship runs from September 30 to October 4 and is hosted by St. Francis Yacht Club (StFYC). Twelve teams from seven countries, representing 10 yacht clubs, will race identical J/22s supplied by the club. The entry list includes 12 of the top 18 teams on World Sailing’s 2026 Women’s Match Racing Rankings, and racing begins on Thursday, October 1 at 1030 local time on StFYC’s City Front racecourse, conditions permitting.
Courtois races with Maëlenn Lemaitre, Louise Acker and Laurane Mettraux for France’s Club de Voile Saint-Aubin Elbeuf. She has raced on the Bay twice before and says its conditions hold few surprises. “We have fairly similar conditions at home in Le Havre,” she said. What she expects is a close fight. “I expect a very tight competition. There are many experienced and strong teams, and I think the level between the different crews will be very close. Every race will matter, and small details could make the difference.”
World Sailing President Quanhai Li said the one-design fleet will leave nowhere to hide. “Racing in identical J/22s supplied by St. Francis Yacht Club means that boat handling, tactical errors, and misreading the wind on San Francisco Bay’s tide-heavy racecourse will quickly expose small mistakes, making every match unpredictable,” he said. “The format of the four-day event also helps to increase the level of competition and unpredictability. Each race is important and tests each crew’s endurance, their adaptability to changing tidal currents, and their boat handling in heavy breeze.”
The Challengers
Allie Blecher of Team BAAM!, racing with Evan Cahill, Rose Edwards and Aimee Famularo for the California Yacht Club, knows how quickly the champion punishes errors. “One little mishap and Pauline will recognize your fault, and boom,” she said.
Blecher is from Southern California but has sailed the Bay often enough to call it a home court. “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.”
She believes the title is open. “Everybody’s beatable. I’ve beaten Pauline, Nicole’s beaten her,” Blecher said, referring to Nicole Breault of the Vela Racing Team, who races with Molly Carapiet, Hailey Thompson and Molly Vandemoer for StFYC and won last year’s U.S. Women’s Match Racing Championship. “There is definitely a handful of teams that could take the podium.”
Breault agreed that local knowledge gives an early edge but said it fades fast. “You make a mistake and it’s very obvious,” she said of the Bay’s feedback loops. “Then you realize how much you need to compensate.”
Several teams come straight from the New York Yacht Club’s Women’s International Championship, sailed on the club’s IC37 one-design keelboats. Among them is Megan Thomson of the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron, racing with her 2.0 Racing teammates Josi Andres, Maddie Rist and Tinka Visser. Thomson recently co-skippered MSIG Europe’s foiling IMOCA in The Ocean Race Atlantic 2026 before skippering a team at the WIC a few days later.
“The common thread is the people,” Thomson said. “Whether you’re crossing the Atlantic, racing an IC37 with 10 women, or lining up for a match race, so much comes down to trusting the people around you, communicating well, and making good decisions under pressure.”
The Format
The championship uses a six-stage format. It opens with a full round robin in which all 12 teams meet, with one point awarded for each match won. The top eight advance to the quarterfinals and the remaining four finish their regatta there.
In the quarterfinals, the first four teams to win three matches reach the semifinals, while the other four race a separate stage to decide places five through eight. In the semifinals, the top-ranked team from the round robin chooses its opponent and the other two teams meet on their own starting line. The first two teams to win three matches go through to the Grand Final, and the other two contest a bronze medal match for third and fourth.
The Grand Final is first to three wins. Boats may be exchanged during the knockout stages to ensure parity.
A Skippers’ Panel will be held in person on Thursday, October 1. The Finalists’ Panel takes place on Saturday, October 3 at 1700 local time, both in person and online.
The Host
St. Francis Yacht Club was founded in 1927 and runs more than 40 regattas a year, having hosted many national and world championships on San Francisco Bay. The club celebrates its centennial in 2027 with a series of regattas and special events.
World Sailing, the sport’s governing body recognised by the International Olympic Committee and the International Paralympic Committee, was founded in 1907 and is made up of 149 Member National Authorities and more than 100 Class Associations.
