Cadet class World Championship 2026 at Circolo Vela Torbole - Day 3
by Al McCornick & Edd McArdle 7 Aug 18:31 BST
2-7 August 2026
Cadet class World Championship at Garda day 3 © Mars Entertainment
The Ora Returns, Team GB Regroups, and Three Races Light Up Lake Garda
After the battering delivered by Monday's wild conditions, Tuesday dawned bright, warm, and full of cautious optimism. Team GB spent the early morning inspecting every inch of their boats — checking shrouds, tightening cleats, and quietly assessing the toll the previous day had taken.
The boat park felt subdued at first, but as the sun climbed and the breeze softened, the mood began to shift.
By late morning, the GB village was humming again. The aches and shocks of Monday were pushed aside, replaced by a nervous, determined excitement. At 11:00, helms and crews gathered for briefing, listening intently as coaches delivered calm focus and fresh motivation. When the briefing ended, Team GB came alive — electric, united, and ready.
Out on the water, the wind dropped to nothing. The fleet waited, watching the mountains, willing the mythical Ora to arrive. And then, almost imperceptibly, a breath of wind rippled across the lake. Sails twitched. Crews perked up. Minute by minute the breeze built until it settled into a perfect 13 knots. The Ora had arrived.
A long horn echoed across Garda. Sequence began.
Sixty-five boats danced along the line. Another blast — clean start. Race 4 was under way. 5 minutes later the promotion fleet followed close behind.
RACE 4 - A Return to Rhythm
Out on the racecourse, the Worlds fleet start line carried an extreme pin-end bias - any boat that nailed the pin could tack out and cross the rest of the fleet outright. Nobody did it better than Ukraine's David Gutiiev and Katrina Butenko, who led round every mark for the win. Team GB had a strong first beat, with a cluster of British boats up among the leaders early on: George Cox-Olliff and Evie Winchester held their nerve through to the finish for fourth, while Ava Stoddart and Alice Boddy (6th) and Monty Slump and Sam Flood (7th) also kept GB well placed inside the top ten.
Holland's Mischa and Nikaj Oosterbaan and Australia's Will Garner and Jack O'Brien completed the podium in second and third. It wasn't plain sailing for everyone: Bruce Ward and Alex Harker were squeezed out at the pin and had to claw their way back to 11th, while Sam English and Minnie Palmer's race unravelled after a penalty turn at the leeward mark dropped them back into the pack.
The Promotional fleet felt the same pin-end bias as the Worlds fleet, and Tom Krailing & Issy Stock made the most of it, hitting the pin at the start and tacking straight across the bulk of the fleet. Holland's Stijn van den Berg & Bouke Schaap led round the first mark, with Oscar Ward & Emily Richardson second and Chandralekha Tattari & Sunchanakota Rishwitha in third. The run of the race belonged to Emily Krailing & Jemima Cox-Olliff, though - rounding in fifth, they carved their way through the fleet on the run down to second, a position they held all the way to the finish.
RACE 5 - Charlie Leads the Charge
Race 5 delivered one of Team GB's standout moments of the day, even if it didn't look that way at the start. Charlie Jones and Francis Lonardo were unable to get away cleanly in the Promo fleet, but as the wind rotated right and the breeze filled in stronger there, they were the first in the fleet to tack across and chase it. From there they sailed into the lead, rounding the windward mark first and igniting cheers from the GB support RIBs.
Behind them, Oli Walker & Harry Ballam were the closest GBR team, rounding the first mark in fifth, before the fleet compressed into a colourful, chaotic downwind. The Ora held steady, but a mischievous late shift caught several boats out, reshuffling the mid-fleet and rewarding those who stayed alert, with Joe Mycroft & Elizabeth Thorpe pulling their way through into second place.
The Worlds fleet start proved even trickier. A crowded pin end left boats fighting for room, and this time nobody escaped it cleanly. The race was instead won on the right-hand side of the course, where pressure funnelling down off the cliffs rewarded anyone bold enough to start at the committee boat and sail out towards it. Australia read it perfectly and locked out the top four places - Will Garner & Jack O'Brien leading home Calin Went & Rohan Turaga, Jack Benyan & Farrell Meegan, and Archie McQuillen & Thomas Pitt. The only boat to break up the green sweep was Bruce Ward & Alex Harker, whose boat speed carried them through to fifth.
RACE 6 - A Photo Finish
By Race 6, Garda was singing. The Ora had settled into a glorious, steady rhythm — the kind of breeze sailors dream about. Team GB hit the line with confidence.
In the Worlds fleet, it was Mimi Windibank & George Blackwell who set the pace, leading the fleet around mark after mark and looking, for most of the race, like the team to beat, sailing 8537, Never Look Back - one of the fleet's classic Ron Beasley-built wooden boats. Chasing hard behind them were Bruce Ward & Alex Harker in 8352, Master Mariner, another Ron Beasley boat with real pedigree, sailed by Nick Craig back in the day.
The turning point came at the final leeward mark, where Mimi lost sight of the gate and had to double back to round it correctly, handing back the distance she'd spent the whole race building. It threw the finish wide open: Bruce and Alex seized their chance, closing hard as the two boats raced each other for the line, against India's Vinod Dandu & Mani Nilkondala. In the end it came down to metres: Bruce and Alex broke the overlap with barely three boat-lengths to the line, India came through to take second, and Mimi & George rounded out the podium in third.
The promotional fleet had its own storyline unfolding up front. Off the back of his Race 5 win, Charlie Jones & Francis Lonardo led around the first mark again, chased by Chandralekha Tattari & Sunchanakota Rishwitha in second, Lewis Walker & Clementine Denny-Pickess in third, and Emily Krailing & Jemima Cox-Olliff in fourth. Boats fought tooth and nail through tight lanes and bold gybes, and it was the Indian pair who found the pace when it mattered, getting past Charlie to take the win. Spinnakers snapped and crews hiked to the limit all the way to the finish, with cheers ringing out from every corner of the course.
Day 3 Wrap-Up
These three races marked a turning point in the championship. The Ora returned, Team GB rediscovered its rhythm, and the fleet delivered some of the most exciting sailing of the week. With British boats hitting the top mark first in both R5 and R6, confidence surged across the squad - proof that resilience, teamwork, and tactical sharpness can turn any regatta around.
With six races now in the bag, the Race Committee are right on schedule ahead of tomorrow's lay day - a welcome breather for tired arms and boats before racing resumes.
The evening rounded off with the fleet's International Night, an annual highlight of the Cadet Worlds, as teams shared food, drink and stories from home long into the Garda dusk. Given some of the delicacies on offer from the different nations, there may be a few sore heads around the boat park by lay-day breakfast.
There's also a rumour going around among parents and coaches of a possible ex-Cadets race tomorrow afternoon!
UPDATE: Ex-Cadets Race 2026 Results
1. GBR 8531 Zac Windibank
2. UKR 10083 Oleksand Izarov
3. BEL 9836 Elias Kerre