71st Bermuda Gold Cup scheduled for October

The King Edward VII Gold Cup, the championship trophy, was presented by King Edward VII at the Tri-Centenary Regatta at Jamestown, Virginia, in 1907. A highly prestigious trophy with a rich tradition it was the only King’s Cup ever to be offered for competition in the United States, which could be won outright, and is the oldest match racing trophy in the world for competition involving one-design yachts.

The Bermuda Gold Cup was last held in Oct. 2020, when it was also the Open Match Racing World Championship. In that final, Taylor Canfield’s (Miami, Florida) STARS + STRIPES Team USA defeated Ian Williams (Lymington, England) and crew in an aggressive match filled with penalties to capture his third Bermuda Gold Cup and second Open Match Racing World Championship. Both skippers are in the preliminary entrant list for this year’s regatta, a world championship event of the World Match Racing Tour.

“We’re absolutely delighted to have the Bermuda Gold Cup back on the international sailing calendar,” said Jon Corless, a Past Commodore of the Royal Bermuda Yacht Club and the chairperson of this year’s Gold Cup. “It was a challenge to pull off the 2020 Gold Cup in the year of Covid, and the virus had a lasting impact the past couple of years in Bermuda. We’re looking forward to a competitive regatta with many familiar faces, the world’s top match racers.”

The intended field of 16 teams includes Canfield and Williams, who’ve combined for five Gold Cup championships, and Chris Poole’s (Cold Spring Harbor, New York) Riptide Racing, the winner of the recent Congressional Cup in California where he went undefeated in 24 races.

Long-time skippers Johnnie Berntsson (Stenungsund, Sweden), a two-time champion and four-time runner-up, and Eric Monnin (Immensee, Switzerland) are also set to return. The duo, together with Williams, are among the all-time competitors at the Gold Cup, with a combined 39 appearances between them.

Other confirmed entrants include Frenchwoman Pauline Courtois (Brest, France) and her Match in Pink by Normandy Elite Team, who return for their third consecutive Gold Cup. Two other entrants are Jeppe Borch’s (Copenhagen, Denmark) Borch Racing Team and Harry Price’s (Sydney, Australia) Down Under Racing. Borch (2020) and Price (2019) are the past two recipients of the Jordy Walker Memorial Trophy, awarded to the most improved sailor at the regatta, and both are back for their second trip to the Gold Cup.