Day five at North Sails Cowes Week 2026 and it’s North Sails Race Day. One thing that has changed over 200 years of yacht racing at Cowes Week is the quality of weather forecasting. PRO Phil Warwick and his race team looked at the predictions for near-30-knot winds expected this afternoon and rescheduled the class starts with the aim of having everybody back on the dock by about 2 pm before the biggest of the breeze arrived.

Unfortunately, for the smaller boats and keelboat fleets in the White Group, the forecast precluded any sailing.

The glamour race of the day was for the prestigious Britannia Cup, presented by King George VI in 1950 for the biggest boats in the regatta.

Over the last few years, the organisers have combined IRC Class Zero, Class One and the Cape 31 class into a supergroup to compete for the Cup. After the start cannon was fired by Sam Watson, CEO of North Sails, long beats against the tide to the west suited the TP52s, which took the top four slots overall. Hong Kong-owned TP52 Beau Geste were the victors, raising the Britannia Cup above their shoulders.

In the Etchells class, it's exceedingly tight at the top after five days of racing. Chris Hampton, from Melbourne, Australia, sailing Tango, is edging into a small lead over the team led by double world champion Andy Beadsworth (and son & co!), ahead of Ice, sailed by Cooper Shanks and Bingley from the sunny Isle of Wight. Once Beadsworth drops his 13th place from Sunday's race, he and Hampton are, in effect, tied. For these two, avoiding a bad result and beating each other is becoming as important as their final positions in the fleet.

In the Daring class, perennial winner Dauntless (Giles Peckham, Milo Carver, Richard Romer Lee and Jane Peckham) continue their up-and-down week. Having scored two firsts, Dauntless also has a fifth and a sixth, but she took today's race to return to the top of the overall scorecard. All of the bigger day boats were racing on the southern side of the Bramble Bank, including the Sonata class, which is being dominated by Russell Peters and his crew on Barbastelle with three bullets. However, they tripped up today, finishing fifth, nearly two minutes behind Jennie XXX sailed by Luke Bowen-Clark, Simon Clark, Dave Thompson and Martin Scott from CCYC.

Having dominated the G7 mini-series, Martin Dent in Jelvis retired back to the bar, leaving Lady Khumbu, sailed by Jacintha Hamilton-Love and her team, to win today's race in the J/70 class, and take a small lead on the overall North Sails Cowes Week scorecard.

Also racing in the fleet was Sir Ben Ainslie who today was leading a team of sailors in his Athena Pathway youth programme. The crew revelled in the fresh conditions.

Although the biggest fleet in the regatta, the X One Design didn't sail today, giving Phil Lawrence, David King and Nick Froud on Lonestar an opportunity to enjoy their overall lead ahead of last year's winners, Astralita. Can they hold back the dominant team in the XOD class with two races to sail?

Today’s young competitors included sailors from the Scaramouche Sailing Trust, an initiative to bring young people from deprived inner city environments and expose them to the sport of sailing and the possible career paths that could be available to them in the marine industry.

Richard Patrick’s Dusty P leads Performance Cruiser A with a string of first or second places and looks primed to win that class. Performance Cruiser B could not be closer. The top three boats are separated by just two points, with Hot Pursuit (Adam Brooks and Tim Cork) tied with Eldie (Neil and Annabel Miller), and Warrior (Simon James Faren) in third. David Neville’s Islay is leading Club Cruiser A. This class is also incredibly tight. Vesper I sailed by Andrew Haning is just one point behind, and Michael and Suzy Carrington’s Susimi III is a further point behind. It doesn't matter which class you're racing in at North Sails Cowes Week, everybody wants to do as well as they can, and there is good competition throughout every class.

The exception that proves the rule is Club Cruiser D, where Andy Maskell’s High Spirit had three wins and a second before their class was cancelled today.

The forecast for Thursday and Friday is looking good for racing. Lighter winds from the north-west will test the course setters, but with the strength of the tide slowly easing through the week, there will be plenty of passing lanes on the racecourse.

As the race crews returned to the dock, North Sails presented an Action Sports display of kitesurfing, all the more dramatic in the building winds.