HAMILTON, Bermuda (24 August 2026) — The Royal Bermuda Yacht Club has closed invitations for the 2026 Bermuda Gold Cup and confirmed the field striving to win the King Edward VII Gold Cup, the oldest match racing trophy for one-design keelboats in the world. The regatta runs October 13-18 and will be the penultimate stage of the 2026 World Match Racing Tour before the Tour final in Saudi Arabia in November.
This year’s Bermuda Gold Cup will bring the world’s leading men’s and women’s match racing sailors together in a single combined event, with the Open field expanding to 12 invited skippers, up from eight in previous years. Eleven berths are now confirmed from six countries, with the twelfth and final place reserved for the winner of the Oakcliff International from 27-30 August, also an official Grade 2 stage of the World Match Racing Tour.
Confirmed field for the 2026 Bermuda Gold Cup
- 🇸🇪 Johnie Berntsson (SWE) — defending champion, World Sailing (WS) Open Ranking No. 3
- 🇺🇸 Chris Poole (USA) — WS Open Ranking No. 1
- 🇨🇭 Eric Monnin (SUI) — WS Open Ranking No. 4
- 🇬🇧 Christian Hamilton (GBR) — WS Open Ranking No. 5
- 🇸🇪 Oscar Engström (SWE) — WS Open Ranking No. 6
- 🇫🇷 Aurélien Pierroz (FRA) — WS Open Ranking No. 9
- 🇩🇰 Jeppe Borch (DEN) — WS Open Ranking No. 13
- 🇸🇪 Anna Östling (SWE) — WS Open Ranking No. 70 / WS Women’s Ranking No. 2
- 🇫🇷 Pauline Courtois (FRA) — WS Open Ranking No. 19 / WS Women’s Ranking No. 1
- 🇸🇪 Martina Carlsson (SWE) — WS Open Ranking No. 53 / WS Women’s Ranking No. 5
- 🇺🇸 Allie Blecher (USA) — WS Open Ranking No. 344 / WS Women’s Ranking No. 9
- TBC Winner of Oakcliff International 2026
World Sailing rankings at 1 July 2026
Sweden’s Johnie Berntsson returns to Hamilton Harbour as the three-time defending champion, chasing an unprecedented fourth straight Gold Cup after sweeping Great Britain’s Ian Williams 3-0 in last October’s final. The result completed the first Bermuda Gold Cup hat-trick since the event adopted its modern format in 1985 and moved Berntsson to five career victories, second only to Sir Russell Coutts’ record of seven.
Berntsson is joined at the top of the world rankings by USA’s Chris Poole and Switzerland’s Eric Monnin, both top-four finishers in Bermuda last year, while Sweden’s Anna Östling — the reigning Aspen Bermuda Women’s champion — headlines alongside defending Women’s World Match Racing Tour champion Pauline Courtois from France, Sweden’s Martina Carlsson and USA’s Allie Blecher as four of the sport’s leading women’s match racing skippers.
New Fareast 28R fleet arrives ahead of the Bermuda Gold Cup
The Royal Bermuda Yacht Club has also taken delivery this year of a brand new fleet of eight Fareast 28R match racing keelboats, which will be used for the 2026 Bermuda Gold Cup and for racing at the Club going forward. The Fareast 28R, designed by Simonis Voogd Yacht Design, is a popular match racing boat raced at several events on the World Match Racing Tour. The new boats are currently undergoing commissioning in Bermuda ahead of October’s event.
“The RBYC is very happy to invest in the future of the Gold Cup with the purchase of a fleet of boats that are widely accepted upon the WMRT. The Club is looking forward to the boats also supporting an expansion of sailing initiatives at the Club for our Members, and hosting new events bringing visitors to the island to experience Bermudian hospitality and pristine sailing conditions.” Somers Kempe, Past Commodore and Rear Commodore, International Sailing Events, RBYC.
World Match Racing Tour CEO James Pleasance added “Whilst the Bermuda Gold Cup has long been recognised for it’s iconic IOD fleet (International One Design), this year marks an exciting new era for the event with the brand new Far East 28 fleet recently delivered to the club. The Far East 28R’s are also used at the world tour’s Macao and Sweden stages so the boats are already well known to most of the teams and we look forward to seeing the new fleet in action in Hamilton Harbour in October.”
The Royal Bermuda Yacht Club thanks RenaissanceRe, the Bermuda Tourism Authority, and Howden for their continued support as sponsors and partners of the 2026 Bermuda Gold Cup.
For more information, www.bermudagoldcup.com and www.wmrt.com and follow us on social media channels at @worldmatchracingtour
Contact: media@wmrt.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