The RC44 fleet returns to its regular summer stopover on Sweden’s west coast this week for the 14th edition of the 44Cup Marstrand, since the high performance owner-driver one design class first visited this popular port in 2011. Supported once again by Artemis Technologies and Marstrands Segelsällskap, racing proper begins tomorrow Thursday 25 June and will continue until Sunday with up to three races scheduled daily.
Of the nine teams competing, all are now capable of claiming races, but winning overall come Sunday afternoon will require extreme effort.
Currently leading the 2026 44Cup is Gemera Racing. This follows her two podium finishes so far this season in Puerto Calero, Lanzarote at the beginning of February and in Puntaldia, Sardinia in April. Her tactician Francesco Bruni comes in hot from winning the Rolex TP52 World Championship in Sardinia last week (although his crew from that event are scattered across the RC44 teams).
On board, regular floater Swedish Nacra 17 sailor Ida Svensson is having to stand down for this regatta due to injury but has been replaced by a fellow Swedish women’s America’s Cup team crew - Paris 2024 mixed 470 bronze medallist Lovisa Karlsson.
“I only got the call yesterday to ask if I was available,” says Karlsson, who heralds from Varberg, just south of Gothenburg and is just embarking on a campaign for the Games in Los Angeles in 2028. In the meantime this week she finds herself racing alongside several heroes of the sport including America’s Cup sailors like Kyle Langford, Kinley Fowler and Nick Hutton.
“Obviously it will be great racing and that's the fun part about it,” she continues. Although she has raced sportsboats such as the RS21 and SB20 previously in addition to her beloved 470 dinghy, this will be her first time racing a large keelboat.
Just a point behind GeMera Racing on the 2026 leaderboard after two events, but equally well tipped is Vladimir Prosikhin’s Team Nika. She not only won the last event in Sardinia but was the overall 2025 44Cup victor and is defending champion here in Marstrand, following her success last year when she beat Hugues Lepic’s Aleph Racing and Nico Poons’ Charisma to the top spot on the podium.
“It looks like it will be light wind and a bit more challenging,” says Prosikhin of the conditions this week, compared to last year. “We know this place very well. It's very nice, very beautiful around the island. Everything is so good here.”
Elsewhere in the fleet some of the tacticians have been playing musical chairs. There are high expectations for Artemis Racing of the 44Cup Marstrand’s host Torbjörn Törnqvist who has a new tactician for this event in SailGP wild child Phil Robertson. While today Robertson is at the peak of his career – driving for Red Bull Italy on SailGP and co-helm of Tudor Team Alinghi for next year’s America’s Cup – years previously Robertson established his credentials winning the World Match Racing Tour and the M32 World Championship on repeated occasions here in Marstrand.
“Obviously I’ve followed it over the years and talk to people that are involved,” says Robertson for whom this will be the first time he’s ever raced on the 44Cup. “It's a very cool class - very close and tight racing with a great bunch of owners. It seems like a very nice circuit to be on. I think everyone enjoys sailing in this class and I'll get a taste of it this weekend to see where we stand. I haven't sailed this slow in a long time, so it's definitely a change of pace!”
Torbjörn Törnqvist’s local heroes are overdue a win here. They have finished on the podium three times (as recently as 2024, when they were second) but an outright win at their home event has always eluded them.
Meanwhile Hamish Pepper has returned on tactics with his old crew on Nico Poons’ Team Charisma. When Pepper was with the Dutchman’s team previously they enjoyed a strong run that saw them win the 44Cup in both 2022 and 2023, also claiming the RC44 World Championship in those years.
“It's a solid team,” says Pepper of Team Charisma. “It has been very good in the past with a lot of success. It's nice to be back on board. I really enjoy the class. We'll see what we can do.”
Historically Team Charisma has won here in Marstrand four times, including consecutive wins in 2022-24. This impressive record is only beaten by Chris Bake's Team Aqua which has won here five times: in 2011-13 and again 2019 and 2021. Other changes on board Charisma include Emil Forsgren standing in for Robin Jakob grinding and Edwin de Laat temporarily replacing offside trimmer Dimitri Simmonds (on paternity leave). Meanwhile Poons is still having to take it easy following surgery and may well hand over the helm of Team Charisma, for the first time, to his son Sam if he needs to rest.
Other teams to watch this week will be Team Aqua where another familiar face, Igor Lah, (who regularly races on the circuit with his own Team CEEREF Viader) is standing in for Chris Bake, who is recovering from surgery.
Like Artemis Racing, Hugues Lepic and Pietro Loro Piana’s Aleph Racing has yet to win in Marstrand despite finishing on the podium for the last three years, including runner-up to Team Nika in 2025. John Bassadone’s Peninsula Racing comes with high hopes having won the opening event of the year in Puerto Calero.
Christian Zuerrer’s Black Star Sailing Team and Turkey’s Mehmet Taki and Murat Edin with their Wow! Sailing Team will also be hoping to make their presences strongly felt on the leaderboard this week.
Racing starts tomorrow with a first warning signal scheduled for 1200 and four days of racing in light to moderate conditions lying ahead punctuated by a major party at Marstrand’s Society House on Friday night.