The 2026 World Championship for the RC44s will take place on the Solent, out of Cowes, hosted by the Royal Yacht Squadron and Team Aqua owner Chris Bake.
This is racing not to be missed . . . Racing will take place on the Solent over 24-27 September. It will be preceded on Wednesday 23 September by the King’s Cup.
Initiated by Team Aqua’s Chris Bake, this is a charity event organised on the event’s practice day between the class and the Royal Yacht Squadron to raise money for local Isle of Wight charities, notably the Ellen MacArthur Cancer Trust. It will see a number of VIPs take to the water aboard the RC44s.
Currently leading the 2026 44Cup championship is Markus Törnqvist’s GeMera Racing. At April’s 44Cup Puntaldia in Sardinia the Swedish team relieved John Bassadone’s Peninsula Racing of the RC44’s ‘golden wheels’ (the equivalent to the yellow jersey in the Tour de France).
They followed this with a second place on their home waters of Marstrand in June and now lead Pietro Loro Piana’s team on Aleph Racing by two points, in turn one ahead of Nico Poons’ Team Charisma.
44CUP 2026 Overall to date:
1st GeMera Racing (30) Markus Törnqvist – 7 pts
2nd Aleph Racing (17) Hugues Lepic & Pietro Loro Piana – 9 pts
3rd Team Charisma (15) Nico Poons – 10 pts
4th Team Nika (10) Vladimir Prosikhin – 13 pts
5th Peninsula Racing (31) John Bassadone – 15 pts
6th Team Aqua (28) Chris Bake – 16pts
7th Black Star (27) Christian Zuerrer – 20 pts
8th Artemis Racing (26) Torbjörn Törnqvist – 20 pts
9th Wow! Sailing Team (25) Mehmet Taki & Murat Edin – 26 pts