HAMILTON, 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, the penultimate stage of the 2023 World Match Racing Tour, 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.
Another partnership, with Bermuda-based charity Waterstart, aims to model sustainable practices and environmental awareness through experiential education. Some of the sailors in the regatta visited Burt Island in Great Sound today to help clean the island and eliminate invasive plant species.
The Royal Bermuda Yacht Club is also working with Keep Bermuda Beautiful (KBB), a leader in community improvement and collaboration working to enhance Bermuda’s neighbourhoods and quality of life.
The Bermuda Gold Cup is committed to the Sailors for the Sea clean regatta program. An important part of that effort is the use of MarkSetBots, the popular robotic buoys that eliminate the need for mark set boats and their accompanying exhaust pollution and also reduce the impact on the biodiversity of seafloors as they eliminate the need for anchors.
The regatta is eliminating single-use plastics and straws, and paper wherever possible. There is a water filling station at the top of the gangway to the dock where the boats are berthed, alongside recycle and compost bins.
“The Green Committee at the Club is very cognizant of the fact that we are ambassadors of the ocean,” said Jon Corless, the chair of the Bermuda Gold Cup and a Past Commodore of Royal Bermuda Yacht Club. “There’s a new public campaign on the island to eliminate single-use plastics and we stand wholeheartedly alongside all of those efforts.”
- Gavin Brady (49, Auckland, New Zealand) – True Blue Racing USA
Crew: Chris Cullen, Tom Powrie, Dave Sweete - Johnie Berntsson (52, Stenungsund, Sweden) – Berntsson Sailing Team
Crew: Herman Andersson, Bjrn Lundgren, Patrik Sturesson - Jeppe Borch (25, Copenhagen, Denmark) – Borch Racing
Crew: Thor Malthe Andersen, Sebastian Pieters, Gustav Wantzin - Taylor Canfield (34, Miami, USA) – Stars+Stripes Team USA
Crew: Robby Bisi, Mike Buckley, Ian Liberty, Erik Shampain - Pauline Courtois (34, Brest, France) – Match in Pink by Normandy Elite Team
Crew: Louis Acker, Clara Bayol, Tha Khelif, Maelenn Lemaitre - Nick Egnot-Johnson (25, Auckland, New Zealand) – KNOTS Racing
Crew: Sam Barnett, Bradley McLaughlin, Zak Merton - Joshua Greenslade (32, Pembroke, Bermuda)
Crew: Dale Brangman, Ruiri Brown, Peter Dill - Peter Holz (30, Chicago, Ill., USA)
Crew: Sam Gilmour, John Hammond, Ellis Tonissi - David Hood (Long Beach, Calif., USA) – DH3 Racing
Crew: Ted Hackney, Ricky McGarvie, Chris Steele - Eric Monnin (47, Immensee, Switzerland) – Capvis Swiss Match Racing Team
Crew: Simon Brgger, Marc Monnin, Ute Monnin-Wagner - Anna Östling (39, Lerum, Sweden) – WINGS
Crew: Annika Carlunger, Anna Holmdahl White, Elisabeth Nilsson, Linna Wennergren - Jeffrey Peterson (21, Santa Ana, Calif., USA) – Golden State Match Racing
Crew: Will Birch-Tomlinson, Daniel Pegg, Tyler Walk - Chris Poole (34, Cold Spring Harbor, NY, USA) – Riptide Racing
Crew: Joachim Aschenbrenner, Matt Cornwell, Mal Parker, Luke Payne - Harry Price (27, Sydney, Australia) – Down Under Racing
Crew: Taylor Balogh, Julia Lines, Connor Mashlan - Ian Williams (46, Lymington, England) – Chinaone.Ningbo
Crew: Jon Gunderson, Gerard Mitchell, Richard Sydenham - Celia Willison (25, Auckland, New Zealand) – Edge Racing New Zealand
Crew: Alison Kent, Charlotte Porter, Rosie Rowell, Ruby Scholten
Visit the Bermuda Gold Cup and World Match Racing Tour websites for more information.
FOR MORE INFORMATION
Nicole Butterworth, Royal Bermuda Yacht Club Sailing Office, sailingoffice@rbyc.bm
Sean McNeill, Bermuda Gold Cup Press Officer, bermudagoldcup@gmail.com
James Pleasance, World Match Racing Tour, info@wmrt.com
