RAIN DELAYS BUT RIVALRIES INTENSIFY IN BERMUDA
(Hamilton, Bermuda, 24 October 2025) It’s still all to play for at the Aspen Women’s Match Racing Regatta after rain prevented the round-robin stage from being completed. With one flight to go, Nicole Breault/USA, Julia Aartsen/NED and Lea Vogelius/DEN are still in with a chance of joining Sweden’s Anna Östling and Pauline Courtois/FRA in the semi-finals. In the Bermuda Gold Cup, the big four made their way into the knockout stages with Johnie Berntsson/SWE, Eric Monnin/SUI, Chris Poole/USA and Ian Williams/GBR advancing to the semi-finals.
By this stage of the Aspen Women’s Match Racing Regatta all four semi-finalists should have revealed themselves but the weather prevented the conclusion of the round-robin stage.
A heavy rainstorm brought the first flight to a premature halt and sent the skippers back to port for about an hour, with the second flight later completed and the third still to come when the wind speed dropped and the race committee called an early end to the day’s racing. The remaining five races will be held on Saturday morning, when the final two semi-final spots will be decided. Anna Östling and Pauline Courtois, who was heavily bandaged after a scooter accident, confirmed their place in the knockout stages and they will be joined by two of Lea Vogelius/DEN, Nicole Breault/USA or Julia Aartsen/NED.
Vogelius, who has two races left to sail, and Breault, hold the upper hand knowing they are definitely in with a win and the American skipper knows exactly what she has to do to get over the line. “It was a frustrating day today and we would have loved to win our matches today but it wasn’t to be,” Breault said. “We’re going to have a nice dinner, get a good night’s sleep and do what we know. We’re going to come out against Martina Carlsson tomorrow – we have been watching them improve and we are going to take nothing for granted. We’re going to give them our best and I’m sure they are going to give theirs, so it should be a good match.”
Julia Aartsen’s only chance of making it through is by beating American Lindsey Baab and hoping one of her rivals loses, but she gave herself a chance to progress with a crucial point against Breault in their match yesterday. “That was nearly perfect,” Aartsen said. “But I was checking my heartrate at the end of the match and it was around 135-140 beats as the rate was intense. Tomorrow, we’re going to focus on ourselves and not on our opponents. I’m not sure what direction the wind will be but we’ll have a good preparation.”
The final day of round-robin action at the Bermuda Gold Cup promised a thrilling fight for the semi-final spots, the big beasts on the World Match Racing Tour showed their claws to book their place in the knockout stages. Sweden’s Johnie Berntsson, who finished top of the leaderboard despite being docked a point for colliding with America’s Chris Poole in his opening race of the day, has made it through alongside Poole, Eric Monnin/SUI and Ian Williams/GBR. Williams, the eight-time World Match Racing champion needed two wins from his three races on the last day to guarantee qualification, which he did by beating Peter Wickwire/CAN and Berntsson.
Despite making it through, Williams is frustrated with small mistakes that left his qualifying spot up in the air for longer than he would have liked. “We’re really happy to have progressed to the semi-finals and the game changes now as round-robin racing is different to knockout racing as you are now up against the same type of competitor in the same level of boat,” he said. “We’ve had four days of warm-up and now it’s time to bring the fire and not make silly mistakes. We should have cut them out by now and been focusing on the details, which become more important such as winning the start.”
Nick Egnot-Johnson/NZ was the unlucky sailor to narrowly miss out on the semis with a blank first day the main reason for him missing out by a point. “It was a tough ask to come back after that but we tried our absolute best and fought really hard, but it just wasn’t enough to recover from the bad first day,” he said.
Racing continues at 0900 Bermuda time.
The Bermuda Gold Cup and Aspen Bermuda Women’s Match Race runs through to Sunday 26 October. Follow live results at https://wmrt.com/live-results/ and for the Aspen Bermuda Women’s Match Race at https://womenswmrt.com/live-results/
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, SWE – WINGS – SWE
(Crew Anna Holmdahl, Elisabeth Nilsson, Annika Carlunger, Linnea Wennergern)
🇫🇷 Pauline Courtois, FRA – Match in Pink by Normandy Elite Team
(Crew Maelenn Lemaitre, Louise Acker, Laurane Mettraux, Claire Pruvot)
🇺🇸 Nicole Breault, USA – Vela Racing
(Crew Molly Vandemoer, Maggie Bacon, Dana Riley Hayes, Hailey Thompson)
🇳🇱 Julia Aartsen, NED – Team Out of the Box
(Crew Iris Van Gerrevink, Ismene Usman, Eva Asbeck Brusse, Floortje Hoogstede)
🇩🇰 Kristine Mauritzen, DEN – Those Seagulls
(Crew Julia Toroi, Christina Andersen, Sophia Jorgensen, Sofie Slotsgaard)
🇩🇰 Lea Vogelius, DEN – WOW Racing
(Crew Joan Hansen, Sille Christensen, Josefine Boel, Louise Ulrikkeholm)
🇸🇪 Martina Carlsson, SWE – Beyond Racing Team
(Crew Svea Sahlin, Amanda Ljunggren, Hanna Gaskell-Brown, Hedvig Medstrom)
🇺🇸 Lindsey Baab, USA – Baab Racing
(Crew Kate Shiber, Elena Vandenberg, Sally Mace, Julie Mitchell)
ABOUT BERMUDA GOLD CUP
The Bermuda Gold Cup, a World Championship event of the World Match Racing Tour, is one of the world’s most storied match race regattas. The trophy, the King Edward VII Gold Cup, was first awarded by King Edward VII at the 1907 Tri-Centenary Regatta in Virginia. First raced as a match race regatta in1937, the King Edward VII Gold Cup is the oldest match racing trophy in the world for competition in one-design yachts and is the only King’s Cup ever to be offered for competition in the United States, which could be won outright. The winner’s list includes the most prominent names in international sailing, including America’s Cup winners Sir Russell Coutts (the event’s all-time winner with seven championships) of New Zealand and James Spithill of Australia, as well as luminaries such as Sir Ben Ainslie(Great Britain), Taylor Canfield (USA), Chris Dickson (New Zealand), Peter Gilmour (Australia) and Ian Williams (Great Britain). www.bermudagoldcup.com
For More Information
Nicole Butterworth, Royal Bermuda Yacht Club Sailing Office, sailing@rbyc.bm
James Pleasance, World Match Racing Tour, info@wmrt.com
Visit the Bermuda Gold Cup and Women’s World Match Racing Tour websites for more information.
For live results, follow https://womenswmrt.com/live-results/
For enquiries, contact info@wmrt.com
For more updates and information on the Women’s World Match Racing Tour and event documents, visit womenswmrt.com and follow us on social media at Facebook (@womenswmrt), Instagram(@womenswmrt) and X (Twitter) (@womenswmrt)
Women’s World Match Racing Tour 2025 Schedule:
Stage 1 Casa Vela Cup, San Francisco USA, 28-31 May
Stage 2 Santa Maria Cup, Annapolis USA, 4-7 June
Stage 4. Nordea Women’s Trophy – Match Cup Sweden, Marstrand, 30 June – 5 July
Stage 5. Women’s Match Racing World Championship, Chicago, 17-20 September
Stage 6. Bermuda Women’s Match Race, Bermuda, 21-26 October
*Dates listed race days only
About Women’s World Match Racing Tour
The Women’s World Match Racing Tour was launched in 2022 to continue the hugely successful legacy of the WIM Series (Women’s International Match Racing Series) providing a global match racing series for female sailors. The name of the series was re-launched as the Women’s World Match Racing Tour with its continued mission to expand and strengthen global match racing and promote opportunities for competitive women’s sailing at every level. The Women’s World Match Racing Tour is the world’s first and only professional sailing series for women providing a valuable pathway for aspiring female world champions in the sport of sailing. womenswmrt.com
womenswmrt.com
