ANNAPOLIS, USA (June 3, 2026) – The opening day of the Santa Maria Cup, Stage 2 of the 2026 Women’s World Match Racing Tour, delivered a thrilling start as ten of the world’s top women match racing teams battled for early supremacy. Defending champion Allie Blecher (USA) and her Team Baam made a strong statement, finishing the day with 8 wins and just one loss. Close behind are Sweden’s Anna Östling and Team Wings, along with Julia Aartsen (NED) and Team Out of the Box, both scoring impressive 7-1 records.
Hosted by the Eastport Yacht Club, the prestigious Santa Maria Cup features a world-class fleet representing six nations, with sailors from Europe, North America, Asia, and Oceania.
Blecher returns to Annapolis with her established crew of Beka Schiff, Katja Sertl, and Ali Blumenthal Stokes. “We had a pretty good day,” Blecher commented. “I made a few mistakes but we fought back, and the racing was fair, which was good. The conditions are tricky, but that’s my favourite type of racing because you are never out of it and you are never safely ahead.”
Among the anticipated debuts is Lily Xu Lijia (CHN), Olympic gold medallist and one of China’s most decorated sailors. Xu, a former Olympic bronze medallist in Beijing 2008 and gold medallist at London 2012 in the Laser Radial class, has recently turned her focus to match racing, sailing this week with local Annapolis sailors Ashley Love, Abby Brown, Kim Couranz, and Michael-Anne Ashford. “This is my first Women’s World Tour event and I feel very fortunate to be here,” Xu said. “Even after losing a few races today, I feel very happy because we are learning more after every race. After 20 years of dinghy and fleet sailing, there are still many synergies with match racing as you still need to know how to make a boat go fast and call the wind shifts.”
Another competitor making her Women’s World Match Racing Tour debut is Tara Golonka (CAN) from British Columbia. After a strong start, Golonka faced the highs and lows of match racing. “It’s super cool to be on the Women’s World Tour for the first time,” she said. “We are quite new to match racing so it has been awesome to compete at this high level. Today we started strongly with two wins and then struggled later in the day, but we have been learning all the time.”
Racing continues through Saturday, June 6, when the 2026 Santa Maria Cup champion will be crowned.
For more information, visit https://www.santamariacup.org/and https://womenswmrt.com/
For detailed results, see https://womenswmrt.com/live-results
#SantaMariaCup #womenswmrt #EYC_santamariacup
Interested in seeing more Racing News? Click here
