Bromby Finishes 17th in 2026 Star World Championships
IslandStats.com
Italian duo Diego Negri and Sergio 'Ciccio' Lambertenghi claimed the coveted Gold Star at the 2026 Star World Championship in Miami, while Bermudian Olympian Peter Bromby secured a top-20 finish overall.
Hosted by the Coral Reef Yacht Club, the regatta—presented by Schoonmaker—concluded after six races on Biscayne Bay following a week marked by some of the most unpredictable sailing conditions the fleet has encountered in Miami.
Negri and Lambertenghi navigated the shifting conditions across the six-race series to clinch the world title and add their names to the Star Class roll of honour.
Bermuda's Bromby, sailing alongside Bahamian crew Myles Pritchard, finished 17th overall in the standings with 80 net points.
Heading into the final day of competition, Bromby and Pritchard recorded a 32nd-place finish in Race 5 before closing out their regatta with a 29th-place result in the sixth and final race.
Saturday, November 14, 2026
Bermuda Snatch Dramatic Comeback Victory in Rio
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SSL Team Bermuda produced a thrilling final-leg surge to edge Mexico by three seconds in Race 4 on Guanabara Bay, leaving the battle for a Copa do Mundo da Vela finals berth finely poised heading into Sunday's double-points decider.
On a brisk 'Samba Saturday' in Rio de Janeiro, eight national teams across Groups H and I continued their fight for the final three qualification spots for sailing's equivalent of the Football World Cup.
With 15-knot breezes testing crews across the fleet, Cuba initially seized control of Group I's fourth race. Winning the pin end of the startline while El Salvador started at the committee boat, Cuban helm Nelido Manso López judged the early shifts to perfection, tacking right to cross the fleet by more than 100 metres.
Behind the runaway leaders, Mexico rounded the first windward mark narrowly ahead of Bermuda, with El Salvador trailing in fourth.
The stronger breeze punished any lapse in boat handling. Cuba's crew averted disaster at the leeward gate by hauling a dropped spinnaker out of the water before it could drag, while El Salvador lost ground struggling to sheet in their jib.
Cuba appeared in complete command when they rounded the final windward mark 24 seconds clear of Mexico, with Bermuda still sitting third.
However, the final downwind leg turned the race on its head. As Cuba lost crucial ground on the left side of the course, Bermuda and Mexico powered down the right. In a neck-and-neck gybing duel to the finish, Bermuda rolled past Mexico in the final seconds to claim a stunning comeback win by just three seconds, with Cuba crossing 10 seconds adrift in third.
"It was an epic, epic downwind and the whole crew went 100% fast, fast, fast, the whole way down," said SSL Team Bermuda grinder Max Curtis. "I've probably never spun the handles that fast in my life! We were just wide open. There was great communication between us and the trimmer, the tactician and the skipper. We just banged every single manoeuvre to get us down to that finish."
Reflecting on overtaking Cuba and bouncing back from a dramatic Friday, Curtis added: "They pretty much opened the door for us, so we just took the opportunity, banged our big manoeuvres and it was a whole team effort.
"I fell out of the boat yesterday, and coming from that and still coming first, and then redoing it all over again today – the team's just locked right in now and it's all to play for in the next race. The whole team's hungry right now and we're going into tomorrow."
The victory sets up a grandstand finish on 'Golden Sunday'. Mexico hold a slender one-point lead over Bermuda at the top of Group I, with Cuba just two points further back. With double points on offer in the final group race—and a 'Last Chance' race awaiting the four teams vying for the final qualification spot—El Salvador will need everything to go their way to stay in contention.
Saturday, November 14, 2026
Meyers sweeps Day Two to take Opti Nationals five-point Lead
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Royal Bermuda Yacht Club sailor Heath Meyers won all three races on the second day of the Bermuda National and Open Optimist Championship to open up a five-point lead at the top of the leaderboard.
Hosted by Sandys Boat Club and sponsored by Conyers, the Championship Fleet—featuring entries from the Royal Bermuda Yacht Club (RBYC), Royal Hamilton Amateur Dinghy Club (RHADC), Lauderdale Yacht Club, and Ryde School—completed three races on the Great Sound before freshening winds forced race officials to abandon the remainder of the day's schedule.
With seven races now completed across the regatta, sailors were able to discard their worst single score, shaking up the standings heading into the final day.
Meyers took full advantage of the conditions, following up his Race 4 victory at the end of Day One with three consecutive bullets in Races 5, 6, and 7. Dropping his opening third-place finish, the Bermudian moves to eight net points.
Great Britain's Arthur Baker (Ryde School with Upper Chine) remained Meyers' closest challenger. Baker posted finishes of fourth, third, and second on Saturday—discarding the fourth—to sit second overall on 13 points, five adrift of the leader.
Fellow RBYC sailor Rex Henagulph holds third place on 18 points after logging a third and two fourth-place finishes, while dropping his opening Race 1 fourth.
Further down the leaderboard, tight battles have emerged on tie-breaks. RHADC's Jesse Savage and RBYC's Ishmael Dill are locked together on 27 points in fourth and fifth respectively, with Dill surging up the standings after posting second- and third-place finishes in the final two races of the day.
Elaine Jones (RBYC), who claimed a strong runner-up finish in Race 5, and clubmate Aaron Riker are also tied on 35 points in sixth and seventh.
American sailor Marius Garbayo Ante of Lauderdale Yacht Club sits eighth on 41 points, while RBYC's Alfie Jansma rounds out the top nine on 59 points.
Friday, November 13, 2026
Hot Racing at the Midpoint of the SSL Gold Cup Qualifiers
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Rio was heating up in more ways than one as the SSL Gold Cup Pan-American Qualifiers hit the mid-point in racing terms, with the third race of the series.
The temperature was rising, and so was the pressure, as the teams knew that today could make or break their chances to qualify for the Copa do Mundo da Vela.
Only three of the eight teams will book their ticket to the SSL Gold Cup Finals 2026, with the winners of each group going straight through, while the teams placed second and third in the groups competing will then have a 'Last Chance' race, where the winner takes that final coveted spot.
Group I, Race 3
Racing started just after midday Brazilian time with Group I on the water. Cuba and Bermuda judged their time on distance perfectly on the line, with both Mexico and El Salvador pulling the trigger a couple of seconds late and suffering as a consequence.
The teams all favoured the left side upwind on Guanabara Bay, leading to a boatspeed battle and the crews hiking to the max, with Bermuda consolidating on their excellent start to eke out a small lead, but it was El Salvador, who had tacked away early to clear their air, that crossed ahead.
At the windward mark it was Mexico who tacked inside to jump from last to first with Bermuda, El Salvador and Cuba seconds behind. The spinnaker hoists were frantic as the athletes knew that in this race every second would count. Mexican helm Yanic Gentry set the tone downwind by sailing hard angles again to push the boatspeed to the max, rounding the leeward gate first, heading to the left with El Salvador while Cuba and Bermuda went right.
With the wind shifting right it was Cuba, helmed by Nelido Manso López, who took the lead with Rockal Evans and his Bermuda team hot on their tail, but a problem with the spinnaker retrieval line at the final windward mark hoist brought both Bermuda and Mexico right back into the game.
At the first gybe it was Mexico in the lead, Bermuda just a metre back, and Cuba dropping to third. This race was going to go all the way to the wire.
Mexico stormed through the final gybe to force Bermuda to gybe themselves, but the Bermudan Privateers held their nerve to cross the finish two seconds ahead of the Mexican Las Catrinas team and Cuba's Pirates of the Caribbean just ten seconds further back.
This was a race for the ages, leaving Mexico top of the leaderboard on 10 points, Bermuda and Cuba tied on 8, with El Salvador on 4.
SSL Team Bermuda's Captain Rockal Evans explained how he kept the team motivated and the joy of picking up the win today:
"Most of it was just keeping everybody positive and happy, reminding them that it's the first time we've sailed together as a team with lots of new crew members, knowing that we can improve the next day and that there's still a lot of racing to do. Heads up and keep trucking along. A day like today is such a good feeling. As we crossed the finish line it was a big exhale, congratulating everybody, and being a proud Bermudian sailor, coming from a small island."
The scene is now beautifully set for Saturday's racing, and then double points race on Sunday to decide our Group winners, and then the dramatic Last Chance showdown for that final ticket. It's going to be a rocking weekend in Rio!
Friday, November 13, 2026
Lack of Wind Forces Star World Championship Abandonment
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Racing was abandoned for the day at the 2026 Star World Championship Presented by Schoonmaker as a lack of wind on Biscayne Bay prevented Race 5 from getting underway.
The Principal Race Officer (PRO) initially held the fleet ashore under a one-hour postponement before sending competitors out onto the water. However, after waiting a further 30 minutes for suitable conditions to develop, officials opted to abandon racing for the day, with a forecast of passing rainstorms further diminishing the slim chances of the breeze filling in.
With no racing completed, the overall standings remain unchanged heading into the final day of the regatta.
Italian duo Diego Negri and Sergio Lambertenghi continue to lead the fleet on 35 points, holding a narrow three-point advantage over their closest challengers. Americans Will Stout and Danny Cayard sit level on 38 points alongside Eivind Melleby (Norway) and Christian Nehammer (Austria).
Further down the leaderboard, Bermudian Olympian Peter Bromby and his Bahamian crew Myles Pritchard remain firmly inside the top 10 in seventh place overall.
The championship now heads into its final scheduled day on Saturday, November 14th, with two races remaining and the coveted Gold Star very much up for grabs. Racing is scheduled to get underway at 11:00 am local time.
