By Colin Thompson, Bermuda Royal Gazette
Ian Williams and Team GAC Pindar will bid for a record seventh world match racing title at the same venue where they savoured their maiden success competing at that level more than a decade ago.
The British professional sailing team made a major breakthrough on the World Match Racing Tour after winning the 2006 Argo Group Gold Cup in Hamilton Harbour before being crowned as multiple world match racing champions.
“I remember winning back in 2006, my first major event win,” Williams told The Royal Gazette.
“What an honour it was and still is to have my name on such an historic and prestigious trophy.”
Field of 16 entrants includes top World Match Racing Tour cardholders
Pictured at right: Skipper Phil Robertson (second from left) and crew are all smiles after winning the 2019 Open Match Racing World Championship (©Drew Malcolm/ChinaOne.Ningbo photo).
HAMILTON, Bermuda (Sept. 16, 2020) — Two weeks after announcing that the Bermuda Gold Cup will be contested Oct. 26-30, the Royal Bermuda Yacht Club and World Match Racing Tour together announce today that the celebratory 70th event will also host the 2020 Open Match Racing World Championship as sanctioned by World Sailing.
The Bermuda Gold Cup, presented by Argo Group for the benefit of the Bermuda Institute of Ocean Sciences (BIOS), rejoined the World Match Racing Tour for the 2020 season. The Bermuda Gold Cup was one of four World Championship-level events on the Tour's 19-event calendar however, due to the novel coronavirus, COVID-19, many events were forced to take place on a local capacity or were canceled. The Bermuda Gold Cup was postponed from mid-May to late October.
After consulting with the Royal Bermuda Yacht Club Executive Committee and World Sailing, the World Match Racing Tour made the decision to elevate the Bermuda Gold Cup to the Open World Championship regatta for 2020.
Bermuda stamped a 'Safe Travel' destination with regatta set for Oct. 26-30
HAMILTON, Bermuda (Sept. 1, 2020) - After months of careful consideration the Royal Bermuda Yacht Club confirmed last night that the 70th Bermuda Gold Cup for the King Edward VII trophy will take place Oct. 26-30 on Hamilton Harbour with a full 16-team lineup expected.
Originally scheduled in May the Bermuda Gold Cup, presented by Argo Group for the benefit of the Bermuda Institute of Ocean Sciences (BIOS) and an event of the World Match Racing Tour, was postponed in March due to the outbreak of the novel coronavirus, COVID-19, which closed Bermuda's L.F. Wade International Airport to foreign visitors.
In late May the Royal Bermuda Yacht Club announced that the $100,000 match racing regatta was rescheduled to late October in the hope that the virus might be more manageable. At a meeting of the club's Executive Committee last week event chairperson Leatrice Oatley recommended that the regatta go ahead and the committee confirmed: the Bermuda Gold Cup will be raced Oct. 26-30 barring any setbacks due to the coronavirus.
Decision on celebratory 70th regatta set for late August
HAMILTON, Bermuda (July 27, 2020) — Organizers for the Bermuda Gold Cup, the Royal Bermuda Yacht Club’s $100,000 match racing regatta, have set Aug. 31 as the deadline to decide whether this year’s event, the planned 70th competition for the King Edward VII Trophy, will take place.
The Bermuda Gold Cup, presented by Argo Group for the benefit of the Bermuda Institute of Ocean Sciences (BIOS), is scheduled Oct. 25-30. The event of the World Match Racing Tour had been scheduled in May until the novel coronavirus COVID-19 forced the closing of Bermuda’s L.F. Wade International Airport in March as Bermuda’s government prohibited non-residents from entering the island. A field of 16 crews, between 65 and 70 sailors, is planned in addition to other personnel, both local and international.
Celebratory 70th regatta re-scheduled to October 25-30 on Hamilton Harbour
HAMILTON, Bermuda (May 15, 2020) — When the calendar turned Jan. 1, 2020, organizers for the Royal Bermuda Yacht Club’s Bermuda Gold Cup match racing regatta were eyeing this week, the 19th week of 2020, as a celebration of the storied regatta.
This week was to be the week that the 70th regatta for the Bermuda Gold Cup, an event of the World Match Racing Tour, was held. A dynamite lineup that included past champions, world champions and World No. 1-ranked skippers was secure and racing on Hamilton Harbour in May is one of the more idyllic settings the sailors could enjoy. It was going to be a week worth remembering.
Then the calendar rolled into mid-March and the western hemisphere came to a grinding halt due to the novel coronavirus, COVID-19. Social distancing is the primary means to tamp out spreading of the highly infectious disease and the Bermuda government banned all foreign travel to the island on Mar. 20.
Now, as Bermuda begins Phase 1 of its reopening protocol, the promise of International One-Design (IOD) sloops battling bow-to-bow has been rescheduled to Oct. 25-30. With a dash of luck, the 70th Bermuda Gold Cup, presented by Argo Group for the benefit of the Bermuda Institute of Ocean Sciences (BIOS), will still occur this year.
The celebratory 70th Bermuda Gold Cup has been rescheduled to Oct. 25-30, 2020. Further announcements on the lineup and regatta details will be made in due course. The Royal Bermuda Yacht Club, organizer of the Bermuda Gold Cup, wishes everyone safe passage through these turbulent times.
HAMILTON, Bermuda (Mar. 16, 2020) — Organizers for the Royal Bermuda Yacht Club’s Bermuda Gold Cup match racing regatta have postponed the celebratory 70th running to October due to the outbreak of the novel coronavirus COVID-19 and travel restrictions imposed around the world.
The Bermuda Gold Cup is rescheduled to October from May, the dates to be announced.
“This decision is based on the uncertainty and state of world travel and is made in the interest of the health and safety of the competitors, event organizers and the island of Bermuda,” said event chairperson Leatrice Oatley, a Past Commodore of the Royal Bermuda Yacht Club. “We look forward to hosting the 70th anniversary event in October.”
The Royal Bermuda Yacht Club wishes to apologize to all who may be affected by this decision.
70th competition for King Edward VII Gold Cup set for May 11-16, 2020
Hamilton, Bermuda: The Argo Group Gold Cup, one of the most storied match racing regattas in the world that has been won by the luminaries of the America's Cup arena, will rejoin the World Match Racing Tour for its 70th competition next year, scheduled May 11-16, 2020.
Event organizers at the Royal Bermuda Yacht Club are also pleased to welcome back Argo Group, an international underwriter of specialty insurance and reinsurance, as the title sponsor. An expected field of 12 teams will battle for the King Edward VII Gold Cup, the oldest match racing trophy in the world for competition involving one-design yachts that dates to 1907, and a $100,000 prize purse.
VIEW Argo Group Gold Cup 2019 Final in Pictures
"The Argo Group Gold Cup has long been coveted by skippers and crews around the world, and we couldn't be more excited to welcome back Argo Group and to rejoin the World Match Racing Tour," said Leatrice Oatley, the event chairperson and a Past Commodore of the Royal Bermuda Yacht Club.
"The Gold Cup has carved out its place in the match racing calendar by providing thrilling racing within meters of the shoreline for spectators to see and first-class hospitality. The continued support of Argo Group and rejoining the World Match Racing Tour reinforce the prestige associated with the King Edward VII Gold Cup," said Oatley.
Argo Group returns as the title sponsor for the 11th time, renewing a longstanding tradition of supporting community and sporting events on Bermuda, the picturesque British island territory in the North Atlantic Ocean.