Bermuda Gold Cup
An incident-packed first day at the 2025 Bermuda Gold Cup featured a collision in the first flight of the day before eight-time match racing world champion Ian Williams shot to the top of the leaderboard with Switzerland’s Eric Monnin. It is also shaping up to be a thrilling Aspen Bermuda Women’s Match Racing Regatta with Sweden’s Anna Östling, Denmark’s Lea Vogelius and USA’s Nicole Breault heading the standings.
The 73rd edition of the iconic Bermuda Gold Cup in Hamilton Harbour started literally with a bang as New Zealands’s Nick Egnot-Johnson collided with Ian Garreta from France in the second race of the opening flight. The day ended with the cream rising to the top as Williams was victorious in all three of his races against Chris Poole, Egnot-Johnson and Garreta.
The British skipper was delighted to be back in Bermuda with his new team sponsored by Pindar by Manuport Logistics and Gladstone’s Long Beach, after a year’s hiatus but admitted it took time to get back into the groove of sailing the IOD (International One Design) yachts.
Switzerland’s Monnin was beaten narrowly by defending champion Johnie Berntsson in the final here last year, losing the deciding race in the last 15 metres in a move he described as his “most stupid mistake” of the year.
In the Aspen Bermuda Women’s Match Race Regatta, running alongside the Bermuda Gold Cup this week, anybody under the impression that defending event champion Pauline Courtois and her Match in Pink Normandy Elite team was in for a victory lap of honour can think again.
Courtois has already made a successful defence of her 2024 Women’s Match Racing Tour crown and is counting down the days until she is presented with the 2025 women’s tour trophy, but the pre-regatta favourite did not have it all her own way on the opening day in Bermuda. After beating American Lindsey Baab in the first of four flights in Hamilton Harbour, the French skipper was beaten in the second by Lea Vogelius, of Denmark, and in the third by American Nicole Breault.
A five-time US national women’s match racing champion, Breault won three of her first four races ? the others came against compatriot Baab and Denmark’s Kristine Mauritzen ? as she tackles the steep learning curve of racing in IODs, and in Bermuda, for the first time.
Breault was most thrilled to come out on top against her protege Baab.
Despite losing out to Breault, Baab was one of the happier skippers upon her return to the dock after picking up her first two wins at the regatta against Vogelius and Martina Carlsson. Another of the competitors grappling with IODs on their first visit to Bermuda, Baab was pleased with how quickly she learned.
Anna Östling is one of three sailors atop the leaderboard with three wins after the first day alongside Vogelius and Breault.
The Swedish skipper’s only defeat in four flights came against her old rival Courtois, who beat her in the final in Bermuda last year, but she was pleased with victories over Julia Aartsen and Scandinavian rivals Carlsson and Mauritzen. “It was a great day and the wind that we were hoping for came,” she said. “We’re here to win but we know that is going to be tough as there are many teams here that are hoping to do that. “A lot will come down to producing your best performances at the end of the event, but we are hoping to develop and learn as much as we can through the week.”
The Bermuda Gold Cup and Aspen Bermuda Women’s Match Race runs through to Sunday 26 October.
2025 Bermuda Gold Cup Entries
Chris Poole, Riptide Racing (World ranking #1)
Eric Monnin, Capvis Swiss Match Racing (World ranking #2)
Johnie Berntsson, Berntsson Sailing Team (World ranking #3)
Ian Williams, Pindar by Manuport Logistics (World ranking #10)
Nick Egnot-Johnson, Knots Racing (World ranking #7)
Ian Garreta, Med Racing (World ranking #4)
Timotheë Rossi, Sudistes Sailing Team (World ranking #5)
Peter Wickwire, Storm Racing (World ranking #9)
2025 ASPEN Bermuda Women’s Match Race Regatta Entries
Anna Östling, Wings Sailing
Pauline Courtois, Match in Pink
Nicole Breault, Vela Racing
Julia Aartsen, Team Out of the Box
Kristine Mauritzen, Those Seagulls
Lea Vogelius, Team Katnakken
Martina Carlsson, Beyond Racing Team
Lindsey Baab, Baab Racing
