A challenging and tense day of racing marked the opening day of the 2026 Macao Match Cup today, as the opening event of the 2026 World Match Racing Tour season got underway on the waters of the Maliuzhou Waterway in Macao. Twelve of the world’s best international match racing teams, including former Match Racing World Champion Nick Egnot-Johnson from New Zealand have arrived in Macao this week in their bid for the 2026 match racing world title.
With racing getting underway mid morning in a light and building breeze, it was France’s Aurélien Pierroz (FRA) and his Match Again by NET team that took the first win of the tour season against Australia’s Zac West (Sail+ Racing).
Currently ranked world Number #2, and top ranked skipper for the Macao event, Cole Tapper from Australia had a disappointing start to the day, losing his opening race to USA’a Christian Prendergast, both teams sailing in Macao for the first time.
The wind conditions remained light but consistent for the majority of the day, except during the match between Ian Garreta (FRA) and Jeppe Borch (DEN), where a drop in the wind pressure created a challenging race for both teams, which Garreta was able to eventually win.
Garreta and Sweden’s Oscar Engström both ended their days with four wins in the opening round robin stage.
“It was definitely a decent first day for us,” said Engström. “We’re happy with the result – the conditions were good out there but we had a little bit of everything. When it became very light, it was all about switching those slow feet to fast feet to keep the boat going fast in the light air.”
While Garreta (FRA) had four wins to equal that of Engström, he had one loss for this last race of the day.
“Unfortunately, Johnie [Berntsson] was better on that race, but overall a great day for us,” said Garreta. Speaking about the day as a whole, Garreta was positive. “I think we are in a good position in the results, but we know that the regatta is long, so we must stay focussed, and we will try to see what we can do better for tomorrow.”
David Brookes, Principal Race Officer from Australia, was able to complete the first eight flights of the qualifying stage. With stronger winds expected tomorrow, todays’s light conditions gave the twelve teams valuable time to familiarise themselves with the Far East 28 racing boats on the new Macao race course before the qualifying round-robin stage continues tomorrow.
The top 8 teams from the round-robin stage will advance to the Quarter final stage with the bottom four teams leaving the competition.
Racing runs until Sunday 29 March.
About the World Match Racing Tour
Founded in 2000, the World Match Racing Tour (WMRT) promotes the sport of match racing around the world and is the longest running global professional series in the sport of sailing. The WMRT is awarded ‘Special Event’ status by the sport’s world governing body –World Sailing – and the winner of the WMRT each year is crowned World Sailing Match Racing World Champion. Since 2000, the World Match Racing Tour and its events have awarded over USD24million in prize money to sailors which helped to contribute to the career pathway of many of today’s professional sailors. www.wmrt.com
