International regatta canceled without warning or justification

The 2026 Macao International Regatta is not proceeding as initially planned. The event, scheduled to start today and run through Sunday (Jan. 18), will not take place, the Times has confirmed with the Marine and Water Bureau (DSAMA).

According to a response from DSAMA to the Times, “Our bureau has not received any application for the relevant activity.”

Started in 2019, the Macao International Regatta is one of Macau’s annual sporting events and is said to be designed to promote sailing and other maritime sports while contributing to Macau’s bid to become a “City of Sports.”

In July last year, after the first Macao Match Cup, an event on the World Match Racing Tour calendar, organizers announced it would continue in 2026, stating that the Macao Match Cup would take place as part of the regatta from Jan. 14-18.

In fact, the event would open the calendar for the 2026 World Match Racing Tour and, according to organizers, was expected to attract over 200 sailors from various countries.

In the same initial release, organizers also noted that the competitors in the Match Cup would race in identical FarEast 28R match-racing boats for the Cup title and a share of the USD100,000 (MOP803,062) prize purse, and that the race would take place in the waters off the Macao Science Center, allowing spectators to watch it from the shore – a fact now refuted by DSAMA in the response to the Times.

In previous editions, the event featured multiple competitions across different categories.

Co-organized by the Sports Bureau (ID) and Ursa Major Sailing Event Management (Macau) Co., Ltd., the event has, in previous editions, received title sponsorship from MGM Macau, a collaboration that the Times already knew would not happen for this year’s edition.

Since its inception, the event has been a fixture in local sports and tourism, attracting sailing enthusiasts and professional sailors from around the world.

To the Times, a representative of Ursa Major Sailing Event Management (Macau) Co., Ltd. refused to provide any information or justification regarding the case, claiming it should be the ID to provide such details.

The Times has contacted the ID that, in a short statement have said, “The organizers would like to confirm that the 2026 Macao International Regatta has been postponed. The specific date for the event will be announced once confirmed.”

Seeking clarity on the matter, the Times also contacted the World Match Racing Tour office in London, UK, but did not receive a response by press time.

According to a knowledgeable person familiar with the organization of sailing events and the World Match Racing Tour, who provided comments on the condition of anonymity, it is unlikely that the Macau event can be postponed to a different date (this year), as the international calendar is “quite busy” and there is a lot of logistics involved that cannot be adjusted within a short period.

In 2025, the World Match Racing Tour held 17 events, starting with Macau and concluding just last weekend (Jan. 11) at Shenzhen’s Dachan Bay.

The event saw the Brit Ian Williams and his Pindar by Manuport Logistics team (Gerard Mitchell, Richard Sydenham, and Jon Gundersen Williams) make history by winning a record-breaking ninth Match Racing World Championship title.

Williams’s team defeated Sweden’s Oscar Engström 2-0 in a tense, first-to-two-points final, successfully defending his title for the third consecutive year.

After Shenzhen, teams and boats were scheduled to make the short trip into Macau to start a new season, which we now know will not happen.

In 2025, despite the total of 17 events, only five were World Championship events, including Macau (January), the Congressional Cup at Long Beach, USA (May), the GKSS Match Cup Sweden (July), the Bermuda Gold Cup (October), and the Finals at the Shenzhen Bao’an Match Cup (January 2026).