James Mayo, Paul Cayard and Ben Lamb have an 11 point lead going into the final day of the 2026 Etchells World Championship at San Diego.
After race 7, won by Jud Smith USA, the discard shook up the leaderboard and just three points separated the overall leader John Sommi USA and third place. James Mayo AUS and Jim Cunningham USA were well within striking distance.
After race 8, won by Ireland’s James McHugh, James Mayo taking second moved into the overall lead, with Scott Kaufman second and Jim Cunningham third. John Sommi dropped to fourth and Jud Smith in fifth overall.
Should Mayo keep the lead after Saturday’s final race, he would win his third straight Etchells World Championship – a hat trick that has not been done in over 40 years since David Curtis in 1983.
In the Corinthian competition, Britain’s GBR 1490 of Andrew Lawson, Graham Vials and Billy Russell have a seven point lead from Ben Wilkinson’s USA 1060. The Brits are 19th overall.
Etchells 2026 Worlds – Leaders after 8 races, 1 discard (76 entries)
1st AUS 1526 James Mayo – – 28 1 30 16 3 2 3 2 – – 55 pts
2nd USA 1519 Scott Kaufman – – 8 2 77 21 6 9 17 3 – – 66 pts
3rd USA 1504 Jim Cunningham – – 15 7 3 6 15 12 11 16 – – 69 pts
4th USA 1529 John Sommi – – 24 4 7 7 14 3 16 21 – – 72 pts
5th USA 1111 Jud Smith – – 18 13 9 9 30 13 1 10 – – 73 pts
6th USA 1427 John Dane III – – 14 8 24 20 35 10 6 14 – – 96 pts
7th USA 1456 D Craig Mense – – 4 18 17 43 1 32 2 28 – – 103 pts
8th USA 1509 Argyle Campbell – – 7 14 5 47 18 34 12 15 – – 105 pts
9th AUS 1518 Jeanne-Claude Strong – – 29 29 1 1 39 16 5 25 – – 106 pts
10th USA 1527 Austin Sperry – – 1 39 10 2 25 1 52 33 – – 111 pts
