Share Post

Corona Gibraltar Regatta XXVIII 2026

The Royal Gibraltar Yacht Club wrapped up the 28th edition of the Corona Gibraltar Regatta last weekend, with two days of racing and a finale around the Rock.

Day One

Saturday’s opening day threw the fleet straight into it. Racing took place off La Línea’s Poniente beach and El Rinconcillo, near the mouth of the Palmones river, with two windward-leeward courses of 6.4 nautical miles set for the ORC, Club and Reduced fleets. The westerly wind held around 20 knots for most of the day, gusting up to 25, making for some great sailing.

By the end of the day:

ORC

  • Obsession (Stephen Lawson, RGYC) took both races to lead on two points, ahead of BenBen (Paloma Moreno, Real Club Mediterráneo) in second, with Tanjaoui (Ernest Felipes, RGYC) and Moët (Esther Sánchez, RGYC) tied for third.

Club

  • Belesala (Juan Carlos Muñoz, Real Club Náutico de Algeciras) posted a perfect score with two bullets, ahead of our own Pretty Woman (Matthew Moriarty) and Pretty Ruby (Nick Pretty), both flying the RGYC flag.

Reducida

  • The tightest fight of the day, with Carol May (James Coelho, RGYC) and Titicaca (Tony Segovia, RGYC) tied on three points after splitting the two races, and Lily (Matthew Maginnis, RGYC) close behind in third.

The J80s and ILCA dinghies also got in a full day of racing off La Línea, making the most of the strong breeze.

Day Two

Sunday brought the regatta’s centrepiece: the Round the Rock, a 14.6-nautical-mile lap of Gibraltar starting off La Línea beach. It’s always the decider, and this year the Rock lived up to its reputation for scrambling the forecast. The day started with a south-westerly of 9–10 knots that built to 12–14 knots off Europa Point, only to fade badly in the second half of the course. Several boats found themselves parked in patches of near-nothing and were unable to finish inside the time limit.

It was Obsession, skippered by Stephen Lawson, that read the shifting conditions best, crossing the line and the win in 2 hours, 50 minutes and 35 seconds. Moët (Esther Sánchez) was second on corrected time, with BenBen (Paloma Moreno) completing the podium.

Final Standings

With Round the Rock in the books, the overall regatta results were confirmed:

ORC

  1. Obsession
  2. BenBen
  3. Moët

Club

  1. Belesala
  2. Pretty Woman
  3. Haddock

Reduced

  1. Titicaca
  2. Lily
  3. Carol May

J/80

  1. GVS PAS (Rafael “Yaye” Díaz)
  2. Península (John Bassadone)
  3. Aquaholic (Antonio Coronilla)

ILCA 7

  • Brian Brophy

ILCA 6

  • Neville Ferro

ILCA 4

  • Andrés Ruiz Bastante

A strong shout-out to Pretty Woman, who held onto second place in the Club fleet from start to finish – a solid result in a class that was ultimately dominated by Belesala’s flawless weekend.

Related Articles