3 UAE boats in the top five leaders of the day!
UAE Kidzink Youth is top of the leader board after the first 3 races. William Borghesi at the helm, finished 3rd/5th/5th today. He said it “was high level sailing against Olympians and champions”. Matteo Barison the tactician says he is very proud to be on this team.
French Youth Team Socare Marbrerie: Julien Bunel’s first time at the helm, borrowing Dominique Bayen’s boat and taking a break from his 470 Olympic campaign, Julien is second on the leaderboard after winning the last race. He made a few mistakes, but he was happy with his results:
“With the spinnaker we went fast, and the wind was strong and the championship is a very high level”.
Hyères World Championship 2026 © João Saraiva Mendes
John Pollard on Xcellent said:
“Big conditions today with a high caliber fleet and it was great to get a race win today on a high wind shifty racecourse”.
The AUS boat ARES came first in Race 1. Crew Faye Chatterton stated:
“It was a very early start for the SB20 fleet this morning on Day 3 of the Worlds. We launched slowly into a building breeze starting the day with Race One in 10-14 knots. We managed to crawl back into the fleet after a tricky top mark rounding, we pulled it together on the rest of the legs to just cross the line to take the win for Race One”.
Hyères World Championship 2026 © João Saraiva Mendes
The USA team Nina’s crew haven’t sailed together on the SB20, but they came second in Race 2. Tactician Paola Amar said:
“I come from a traditional sailing background and stopped sailing the 470 five years ago. Since then, I’ve finished my studies and moved on to foiling boats and keelboats. I’ve sailed with Willem before, but I’m still getting to know David and Victor.”
Hyères World Championship 2026 © João Saraiva Mendes
“Throughout the day, we worked as a team to get good starts. During the races, Victor was very focused on tactics and VMG, Willem and David the helmsman focused on boat handling, and my role was to call out what was coming up, such as changes in the wind and waves,” – Paola concluded.
Hyères World Championship 2026 © João Saraiva Mendes
Technology supporting the racing
Every boat is equipped with a GPS tracker, adding a technological dimension to the championship and enabling the fleet’s movements to be followed throughout the racing: Link to MetaSail tracking.
Link: Overall results after 3 races (some hearings are still pending)
Photos from Day 3:
Link to Photo Album of Day 3 – Photo credits: ©João Saraiva Mendes
How to follow the action
Everything about the event is on the official SB20 Worlds Hyères 2026 website. During the championship, daily written reports will be published here on the SB20 Class website, while our Facebook and Instagram pages will cover the action on and off the water, with daily videos on social media and our YouTube channel.