Cayard, Lamb and Mayo Win 2026 Etchells Worlds at San Diego Yacht Club
On May 11 through 15, an armada of 76 Etchells made their way to San Diego Yacht Club (SDYC) for the class’s 2026 World Championship Regatta. Nine races were sailed over the course of the regatta, and Magpie, sailing under Australian colors, claimed her third-straight world championship.
The regatta is just the latest triumph for Cayard in a remarkable past 12 months, during which he won his second Star World Championship in Croatia (37 years after his first), won the Bacardi Cup for the first time in his illustrious career, and earlier this year was awarded the 2026 Magnus Olsson prize. Prior to joining Magpie for the regatta, the 1998 and 2025 Rolex Yachstman of the Year had sailed only 20 days in Etchells.
“I stepped into a very good team,” Cayard says of the regatta, per the Etchells class and SDYC press release. “A lot of great teams were here, so it is an honor to win and have my name on the same trophy as some of my idols like Dennis Conner and Vince Brun.”
Magpie finished with a net total of 56 points, 17 ahead of second-place Rogue, skippered by Scott Kaufman and sailing for USA. Cayard, Lamb and Mayo got off to a bit of an inconsistent start in the regatta. After a 28th-place finish in race one, they won race two, but then recorded 30th- and 16th-place finishes in races three and four, respectively. The fourth would ultimately become their drop.
It was in the last five races of the event that Magpie turned on the afterburners and separated from the field. They finished third in races five and seven, and second in races six and eight, before capping off the world championship with a bullet in the final race. Of note, Kaufman and the team on Rogue were disqualified from race three, meaning that their only drop would be letters.
“The last five races we could not have sailed any better,” Lamb says, again per the press release. “I’m so proud of how the team pulled together, just attacked the race course the whole time. This is probably the hardest Etchells Worlds I’ve ever done. Just to be mixing it up with the countless Olympians, America’s Cup winners and world champions feels good, but to win is incredible.”
Rounding out the podium behind Magpie was Kaufman’s Rogue in second with a net total of 77 points and John Sommi’s Encore (USA) in third with 80 points. Of the 76 boats racing, 21 were Corinthian teams. The winning Corinthian team was the British Etchells No Dramas, sailed by Andrew Larson and Graham Vials.
You can find the full scores for the 2026 Etchells World Championship here.