(Hamilton, Bermuda, 19 June 2025) – The Royal Bermuda Yacht Club and World Match Racing Tour today announced the return of leading speciality insurer and re-insurer ASPEN as title sponsor of the 2025 Bermuda Women’s Match Racing Regatta to be held from 21-26 October. Introduced in 2024, the women’s event will once again be the final stage of the Women’s World Match Racing Tour, the world’s only all-female global series in sailing. Furthering Aspen’s support of women in sailing, the 2025 Bermuda women’s match race will also offer an increased prize purse of USD 50,000.
The Aspen Bermuda Women’s Match Racing Regatta will again run parallel to the iconic Bermuda Gold Cup (for the King Edward VII Trophy), a founding event of the World Match Racing Tour. 2025 marks the 73rd year of the Bermuda Gold Cup, previous winners including six-time Gold Cup champion Russell Coutts (NZL), Sir Ben Ainslie (GBR), Peter Gilmour (AUS), Rod Davis (NZL), James Spithill (AUS), Ian Williams (GBR) and Taylor Canfield (USA).
“Aspen is proud to continue to support the Aspen Bermuda Women’s Match Racing Regatta” said Mark Cloutier, Executive Chairman and Group Chief Executive Officer of Aspen Insurance Holdings Ltd. “This regatta not only showcases the incredible talent and determination of women sailors but also demonstrates the power of teamwork and collaboration; values we hold dear at Aspen. We are honoured to be a part of it.”
The Aspen women’s match race will again attract eight of the very best women’s match racing teams to Bermuda including defending event champion and current Women’s World Match Racing Tour champion Pauline Courtois with her Match in Pink Normandy Elite Team from France. Sweden’s Anna Östling and her Team WINGS will also be back in Bermuda with their sights firmly set on the Aspen Trophy after finishing second to Courtois last year.
For the Bermuda Gold Cup line-up, four-time Gold Cup winner Johnie Berntsson (2008, 2014, 2023 and 2024) and his Berntsson Sailing Team from Sweden are expected to return to defend their title, as well as current seven-time match racing world champion and two-time Gold Cup winner (2006, 2019) Ian Williams from Great Britain. Williams was unable to attend the Bermuda event last year due to commitments with Team INEOS at the 37th America’s Cup in Barcelona.
Current #1 ranked match racer (World Sailing rankings 1 June) Chris Poole from the USA is also expected to join the line-up of eight teams for this year’s Bermuda Gold Cup. Although Poole and his Riptide Racing team have yet to win the Bermuda Gold Cup, the team finished the 2024 World Match Racing Tour as overall points champions, starting the 2025 season with a solid third place finish at the Macao Match Cup in January, and second at the Long Beach Congressional Cup in April.
The Bermuda Gold Cup and Aspen Women’s Match Race are both run by the Royal Bermuda Yacht Club. established in 1844. The King Edward VII Gold Cup is the oldest match racing trophy in the world for competition involving one-design yachts. The Gold Cup was first given in 1907 by King Edward VII at the Tri-Centary Regatta at Jamestown, Virginia in commemoration of the 300th Anniversary of the first permanent colony in America.
“We are very proud of our long history of running world class events in Bermuda” added Bermuda Gold Cup Event Chair and past RBYC Commodore Jon Corless. “The Bermuda Gold Cup has long been our flagship event and, after its inaugural year last year, we are delighted to continue as host of the Aspen Bermuda Women’s Match Racing Regatta as this year’s final stage of the Women’s World Match Racing Tour.”
The Notice of Race documents for the 2025 Bermuda Gold Cup and Aspen Bermuda Women’s Match Racing Regatta have been published and invited skippers/teams will be announced in the coming weeks.
FOR MORE INFORMATION
Nicole Butterworth, Royal Bermuda Yacht Club Sailing Office, sailing@rbyc.bm
World Match Racing Tour, info@wmrt.com
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
ABOUT WORLD MATCH RACING TOUR
Founded in 2000, the World Match Racing Tour (WMRT) promotes the sport of match racing around the world and is the longest running global professional series in the sport of sailing. The WMRT is awarded ‘Special Event’ status by the sport’s world governing body –World Sailing – and the winner of the WMRT each year is crowned World Sailing Match Racing World Champion. Since 2000, the World Match Racing Tour and its events have awarded over USD24million in prize money to sailors which has helped to contribute to the career pathway of many of today’s professional sailors. www.wmrt.com
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 theWomen’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.See womenswmrt.com