Defending champion Johnie Berntsson from Sweden got the better of a penalty-packed race against USA’s Chris Poole on his way to a flawless second day at the 2025 Bermuda Gold Cup, penultimate stage of the 2025 World Match Racing Tour. Berntsson now shares the lead with Switzerland’s Eric Monnin with six skippers within a point of each other. In the Aspen Bermuda Women’s Match Racing Regatta, it is shaping up to be another epic battle between Sweden’s Anna Östling and defending champion Pauline Courtois from France, who bounced back from a disappointing opening day by winning all three races.
Defending champion Johnie Berntsson soared to the top of the 2025 Bermuda Gold Cup leaderboard after a flawless day in Hamilton Harbour. After a disappointing opening day, in which he won just one race, Berntsson won all four of his races on day two to head the standings alongside Swiss skipper Eric Monnin. Berntsson picked up wins against Ian Garreta/FRA, former match racing world champion Nick Egnot-Johnson/NZL and Great Britain’s Ian Williams, but it was his victory against USA’s Chris Poole that caught the eye with both sailors picking up penalties in a race packed with incident.
After penalties were handed out at the start, Berntsson was delighted to have come out on top of a fierce battle. “It was two penalties each and good, fun racing,” Berntsson said. “In the dial-up at the pre-start, he [Poole] hit our stern and got a penalty. After that he got an overtake, which we thought he might have been given a red flag, but then we got a penalty and one we didn’t agree with the umpire about. We gained after the start, passed him and they came back at the second upwind mark and locked us up. Then we overtook him, did a gybe and he got a penalty.”
From being one of the back markers at the start of the day, Berntsson has passed almost the entire field in the space of four flights. “We saw that the conditions were the same as the other day and we really fought hard at the start today to give our opponents some penalties,” he added.
After just two days, it’s already tight at the top with six sailors within a win of each other at the halfway stage of the double round robin stage. Garetta is one of four sailors alongside Ian Williams, Peter Wickwire and Chris Poole with four wins and he claimed the scalp of 2025 Congressional Cup winner Monnin in his final race of the day. “Eric is always strong in these boats and these conditions,” added Garetta. “We started well, won the start and he picked up a penalty. He got back in front but we made a good choice of the downwind gate and managed to pass him again.”
In the Aspen Bermuda Women’s Match Race, two familiar foes are facing each other at the top of the leaderboard with Sweden’s Anna Östling and France’s Pauline Courtois looking down on their rivals. Östling was a perfect three from three on the second day, with her dramatic run of victories started by a remarkable comeback win over USA’s Nicole Breault.
The US sailor carved out a handsome lead over the Swedish skipper but her failure to capitalise on a dramatic wind shift allowed Östling to reverse her fortunes and produce the unlikeliest of wins. “Last night I was trying to visualise the starts and improving them but we came out in the first race and made a terrible start against Nicole,” Östling said. “But we never give up and that is one of the things we are good at.”
