Wrigley and Harris take the lead after first day of Gold Fleet racing at the 470 World Championships

The first day of Gold Fleet racing started with a very challenging race in light and fading wind. The breeze gradually dropped, making conditions difficult for the sailors and Race Committee.

“I think it was a day of two halves. We launched quite early this morning, 8:30, and then we had one quite light-wind race, with the wind more from the northeast,” said Martin Wrigley.

One race was completed in the morning. The Chinese team of Wenju Dong and Hailun Xiao led at the beginning, but the lead changed during the second lap. In the end, Martin Wrigley and Bettine Harris from Great Britain took the win, ahead of Greece’s Afrodite Zegers-de Kleine and George Kavvas. Portugal’s Diogo Costa and Carolina João finished third.

“We haven’t done such a good job earlier in the regatta, so I think we’ve taken quite a lot of learnings from the mistakes we’ve been making. We had a bit more of a positive day and hopefully learned from our mistakes in the first race today. The second race had a bit more breeze. It was good to work hard and have good speed.”

The Race Committee then decided to wait ashore, displaying AP over H. Two hours later, the 470 fleet was back on the water.

The expected breeze arrived and the second race started with the Oscar flag. A general recall followed, with several teams later receiving BFDs.

Once again, the 2026 European Champions Martin Wrigley and Bettine Harris showed great speed and took another race win. The British duo rounded the first upwind mark in the lead and managed to keep it until the finish.

“We kind of knew that coming into the last two days, it was just going to be quite chaotic, and we just had to fight hard, because it was basically the start of the regatta again.”

“The points were always going to be so close. I think we just wanted to attack the day and see how we finished up.”

Portugal also had a strong performance. Beatriz Gago and Rodolfo Pires finished second, continuing their good form from earlier in the day.

The third Gold Fleet race was won by the French team of Lomane Valade and Julien Bunel. Portugal’s Diogo Costa and Carolina João finished second, while Japan’s Tetsuya Isozaki and Yurie Seki took third and moved into second place overall.

Only 16 teams finished the third race as the fleet split into two groups in the increasingly difficult conditions.

“In the morning I told you our goal was to be consistent, try to be consistent in the top five. Unfortunately, the last race was super tricky. We did 12, but we managed to finish the race and a lot of boats didn’t,” said Beatriz Gago.

“It was a really difficult day, but we managed to hold on and have fun. We did our best.”

“We didn’t manage to have a good beginning of the week because Rudi was not feeling so good. But now he’s recovered, so it’s good that we are showing the work that we have been doing during the year,” she added.

After a long and demanding day on the water, Martin Wrigley and Bettine Harris lead the Gold Fleet. Japan is second overall, with Portugal also showing strong form as the competition continues.

Text courtesy of 470.org. Images copyright: Junichi Hirai / International 470 Class Association & Japan 470 Association