Charlotte Rose and Emma Plasschaert Lead After Day One

Racing got underway on Monday at the 2026 ILCA 6 Women’s World Championship, with all three fleets completing three races each. The first warning signal went out at 12:00 as planned, in a breeze that ranged from 12 to 20 knots, gusting up to 25, averaging around 16 knots. The sea wasn’t wavy but choppy, driven by the offshore breeze meeting the current.

Frances Beebe AUS was thrilled with her first senior race win (checkout her interview at the 3 minute mark of the video):

“It feels great — it’s my first Open Worlds race win, so I’m very excited. But there are still five more days to go, so we’ll see what happens.”

“I was actually here for the Under-21 Worlds last year and got very lucky. It wasn’t raining like it’s just about to start, but it’s good fun being here — nice to be back.”

“Racing against everyone was slightly terrifying, honestly, but a lot of fun. I was just trying to hold on to the lead I had today, and I managed to do it, so I’m very happy. I didn’t actually know how anyone in the Yellow Fleet went, so I’m happy for them all too. It’s good to be part of a good team and community — I’m very lucky.”

Charlotte Rose leads the championship after day one with a 1-(2)-2, tied on 3 points with Emma Plasschaert, a two-time World Champion (2021, 2018), who scored 1-2-(3). Anna Munch sits third with (5)-5-1 for 6 points.

Charlotte Rose broke down her tricky start to the day and how she fought back:

“Today was offshore, so honestly my game plan was just to go where the pressure was — we definitely had some big gusts and really big lulls. My first two starts weren’t very good. I didn’t make the pin in the first race, so I had to go back around, and in the second race I just didn’t have a very good start, so I had to hustle for the rest of the race. Once I was behind, it was just, okay, get on the lifted tack, go to the pressure I’m closest to, sail my own race, and just keep fighting and hike really hard.”