Bermuda Gold cup

Petersen wins Jordy Walker Trophy, Butterworth the Wedgwood Heritage Trophy

oct7 2023 goldcup1 sHAMILTON, Bermuda (Oct. 7, 2023) - Swedish skipper Johnie Berntsson today won the King Edward VII Gold Cup, the championship trophy of the Bermuda Gold Cup match racing tournament, for the third time since 2008.

Hosted by the Royal Bermuda Yacht Club, the Bermuda Gold Cup is a World Championship event of the World Match Racing Tour.

The Berntsson Racing Team-including Herman Andersson on tactics, Bjorn Lundgren on mainsail trim and Patrik Sturesson on headsail trim-finished the regatta with a perfect score of 11-0 and won $25,000 of the $75,000 prize purse.

“I can recall being over the moon the first time I won this trophy. I never thought it would happen. Now it’s happened a third time and I’m super grateful,” said the 51-year-old Berntsson from Stenungsund, Sweden, a medical IT consultant. “Sailing with Patrik, Herman and Bjorn, they pushed me all around the course. The tactics were excellent, the trimming was excellent, and it all helped me grow as a helmsman and build our confidence.”

For Berntsson it is the third time that he has won the coveted gold trophy that was first awarded in 1907, having previously captured it in 2008 and ’14. He also finished runner-up four times (2011, ’12, ’18, ’19) and has the second-most finals appearances behind the event’s all-time winner Russell Coutts of New Zealand, who won the trophy seven times between 1990 and 2004 and finished runner-up twice.

1545 Hours

Johnie Berntsson’s Berntsson Racing Team has been declared the winner of the 71st Bermuda Gold Cup. The weather conditions on Hamilton Harbour—with winds steadily around 25 knots and gusting to 35, the remnants of Tropical Storm Philippe—prevented any racing today. The awards ceremony is planned for 1630.

Berntsson likely to race Price, Canfield against Williams in next round

Bermuda Gold Cup. Day Two. Quarter Finals. Royal Bermuda Yacht Club, Hamilton Bermuda. 4th October 2023.HAMILTON, Bermuda (Oct. 6, 2023) — The 71st Bermuda Gold has been paused for two days due to the passage of Tropical Storm Philippe, but tomorrow's Semifinal Round should reignite the pyrotechnics on Hamilton Harbour with two matches featuring well-known, if not bitter rivals.

The semifinal pairings haven't been officially announced yet, that will happen at tomorrow morning's skippers' briefing, but it's a safe bet that Johnie Berntsson's (SWE) Berntsson Racing Team will choose to race Harry Price's (AUS) Down Under Racing. Berntsson has earned the right to choose his opponent based on his undefeated record.

That would force a matchup between Taylor Canfield's (USA) Stars+Stripes USA against Ian Williams' (GBR) Chinaone.Ningbo crew in a renewal of hostilities from the 2020 Final where Canfield suffocated Williams in a contentious, penalty-marred four-race series.

Berntsson, Canfield, Price and Williams advance to semifinals

oct4 2023 1sHAMILTON, Bermuda (Oct. 4, 2023) - In a thrilling match that saw a tiresome combined 24 tacks in the span of about two and a half minutes, Harry Price’s (AUS) Down Under Racing Team defeated Eric Monnin’s Capvis Swiss Match Racing Team, 3-2, to advance to the Semifinal Round of the 71st Bermuda Gold Cup.

Price, who finished third at the Bermuda Gold Cup in 2019, joins multiple winners Johnie Berntsson’s (SWE) Berntsson Racing Team, Taylor Canfield’s (USA) Stars+Stripes USA and Ian Williams’ (GBR) Chinaone.Ningbo team in the next round. The three veterans combined to go 10-1 in the quarterfinals, which included Berntsson winning four races to get the requisite three points to advance.

Instead of building on the momentum of an exciting day of racing, the Bermuda Gold Cup is being postponed for two days due to the threat of Tropical Storm Philippe. The Bermuda Weather Service issued a bulletin this evening stating that the closest point of approach to Bermuda within the next 72 hours (three days) is forecast to be 31 nautical miles to the west/northwest at 12:00 pm on Friday, Oct. 6, with forecast wind strengths of 35 to 45 knots.

Given the forecast, Principal Race Officer David Campbell-James completed the rounds robin and then rolled into the quarterfinals. A total of 40 races were held in an easterly wind of 12 to 15 knots on Hamilton Harbour.

1742 Hours

Harry Price is the final entrant in the Semifinal Round after a tight victory over Eric Monnin in Flight 5 of their Quarterfinal Match. Price joins Johnie Berntsson, Taylor Canfield and Ian Williams in the next round.

Full report to follow later.

Tales of missed opportunities and a 'cougar on the boat' on a light and shifty day

Bermuda Gold Cup. Day One. Royal Bermuda Yacht Club, Hamilton Bermuda. 3rd October 2023.HAMILTON, Bermuda (Oct. 3, 2023) - Day 1 of the 71st Bermuda Gold Cup is in the books with veterans Eric Monnin and his Capvis Swiss Match Racing Team and Johnie Berntsson's eponymous crew from Sweden leading their respective groups.

The race committee, led by Principal Race Officer David Campbell-James, reeled off four flights each for Group 1 and 2 for a total of 32 races in light and shifty conditions. The wind direction ranged between 350 degrees and 060 degrees, and the strength mostly ranged between 6 to 9 knots but built slightly stronger for the final races of Group 2 later in the afternoon.

"We didn't have a race where we didn't shift positions, except for the one against Harry (Price), where he had a good start and led us all the way," said the 47-year-old Monnin, who's racing the Bermuda Gold Cup for the 14th time.

Monnin leads Group 1 with a 3-1 record after posting wins over Taylor Canfield's (USA) Stars+Stripes USA, Nick Egnot-Johnson's (NZL) KNOTS Racing and Chris Poole's (USA) Rip Tide Racing. His race against Canfield, the event's reigning champion, was emblematic of many of today's races - a back-and-forth affair that came down to the run to the finish.

Flight 1 schedules released as storied event welcomes six new skippers

oct2 2023 bgc 1sHAMILTON, Bermuda (Oct. 2, 2023) - A new partnership between the Royal Bermuda Yacht Club and Bermuda-based specialty insurance and reinsurance company Aspen is leading to a stronger commitment to sustainability efforts by the club founded in 1844.

Bermuda is an idyllic, 21-square-mile oasis in the vast 16-million-square-mile North Atlantic Ocean. It is the only land mass located within the Sargasso Sea, a region of the North Atlantic that is bounded by four ocean currents and is a critical foothold in the battle against ocean pollution. Sustainability efforts on the island have consequences for ecosystems around the world.

This year's Bermuda Gold Cup, scheduled Oct. 2-7, aims to help those efforts. The partnership with Aspen, a regatta sponsor, is aimed at creating a baseline to build upon for future regattas. The drive to reduce the impact footprint of such an event, with the large amount of travel to the island from all reaches of the globe, is a long-term effort that is being embraced by many of the regatta's sponsors.