Bayview Yacht Club and US Sailing are preparing to welcome 10 teams to Detroit for the 2026 U.S. Women’s Match Racing Championship, September 24–27.
The national championship will be sailed in Bayview Yacht Club’s fleet of Ultimate 20s, bringing four days of clinic and championship activity to the Detroit River. US Sailing’s championship format calls for qualifying round robin racing followed by elimination rounds culminating in the semifinals and finals. Teams may sail with three or four crew members, with a maximum combined crew weight of 599 pounds.
The 2026 championship field features 10 skippers representing yacht clubs and sailing organizations from across the United States and Australia:
- Caroline Bayless — Something Chill Yacht Club / Annapolis Yacht Club Foundation
- Allie Blecher — California Yacht Club
- Marilyn Cassedy — California Yacht Club
- Katie Cornetta — Richmond Yacht Club
- Juliet Costanzo — Royal Prince Alfred Yacht Club
- Gwynie Dunlevy — Chesapeake Bay Yacht Racing Association / Annapolis Yacht Club Foundation
- Liz Hjorth — California Yacht Club
- Vanessa Lahrkamp — American Yacht Club
- Sydney Monahan — St. Petersburg Yacht Club
- Hailey Thompson — San Francisco Yacht Club
The event opens Thursday, September 24 with a clinic, giving competitors an opportunity to work with coaches and become familiar with the Ultimate 20s and the Detroit River venue before championship racing.
Competition will determine the recipients of two historic trophies in women’s sailing. The championship-winning team will receive the Allegra Knapp Mertz Trophy, while the runner-up will be presented with the Mrs. Charles Francis Adams Memorial Trophy.
The U.S. Women’s Match Racing Championship is one of US Sailing’s longstanding national championships. The event traces its roots to the U.S. Women’s Open Championship, founded in 1974, which originally featured traditional one-design competition in singlehanded and doublehanded boats. A motion to transition the championship to match racing was approved in 2000, and the first U.S. Women’s Match Racing Championship was held at Southern Yacht Club in 2002.
The Allegra Knapp Mertz Trophy honors Allegra Knapp Mertz, a four-time winner of the U.S. Women’s National Championship who also served for many years as chair of the Women’s Championship Committee.
Bayview Yacht Club has an established history with both the championship and match racing. Bayview hosted the U.S. Women’s Match Racing Championship in 2007, when the event was also sailed in Ultimate 20s, and again in 2019.
The 2019 championship at Bayview was won by Allie Blecher, who returns to Detroit as part of the 2026 field. Blecher went on to win the national championship again in 2022, 2023 and 2024, giving her four U.S. Women’s Match Racing Championship victories entering this year’s event.
The defending national champions are Nicole Breault, Molly Vandemoer, McKenzie Wilson and Hailey Thompson, who won the 2025 championship at St. Francis Yacht Club. Thompson returns to the championship this year as a skipper representing San Francisco Yacht Club. The 2025 runner-up was the team of Lindsey Baab, Kate Shiber, Elena VandenBerg and Helen Lord.
The 2026 U.S. Women’s Match Racing Championship is listed by the Women’s International Match Racing Association as a World Sailing Grade 3 women’s match racing event.
For competitor profiles, event information, official documents and updates throughout the championship, visit HERE