Star class Vintage Gold Cup 2026 - Day 1: Three races, three winners
by ISCYRA 2 Oct 03:45 PDT
30 September - 3 October 2026
The 2026 Vintage Gold Cup got under way yesterday, October 1st, with three races in light and steady breeze, delivering close racing and three different winners on an ideal opening day for the fleet of classic wooden Stars.
Racing began in 5-8 mph of breeze, with local Star sailor Greg Smith, sailing with Bermuda's Peter Bromby, winning the pin and immediately digging hard left. The move paid, with Smith leading the fleet around the first windward mark ahead of Canadian Ross MacDonald, while California's Ben Mitchell rounded third and defending Western Hemisphere Champion Jack Jennings fourth.
By the second windward mark, however, the Gold and Silver Star sailors had worked their way past the local leader. Ross MacDonald and George Iverson went on to take an impressive victory in the opening race, with Jack Jennings and Arthur Lopes finishing second. Ben Mitchell and local sailor Brian Terhaar completed the top three, while local team Greg Smith and Rick Babel finished a solid sixth.
Race 2 produced a wire-to-wire performance from two of the most accomplished sailors in the fleet, Mark Reynolds and Rick Peters. The pair took control early and held off a strong challenge from Jennings and Lopes, who crossed the line second.
Behind them, the battle for the remaining podium position was extremely close, with Mitchell and Terhaar and MacDonald and Iverson among the teams fighting at the front as the breeze remained steady at around 5-7 mph—near-perfect conditions for the vintage wooden Stars.
For the third and final race of the day, the wind increased and shifted to the right, prompting the Race Committee to relocate the course on the lake.
The change in conditions did little to slow Ben Mitchell and Brian Terhaar, who capped an excellent day by taking the Race 3 victory. Behind them came one of the closest finishes of the day, with a photo finish deciding second and third between Josh Powell and George Szabo and Jack Jennings and Arthur Lopes.
With three races completed and three different teams taking bullets, the opening day leaves the battle at the top of the 2026 Vintage Gold Cup extremely tight. The combination of light breeze, classic wooden Stars and some of the most recognizable names in the Class provided exactly the kind of racing that has made the Vintage Gold Cup such a special celebration of Star sailing.
Racing continues today.