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Tuesday, August 25, 2026
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Kempe & Patton Battle Tricky Conditions on Opening Day
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Bermudian sailors Sebastian Kempe and Campbell Patton opened their 2026 ILCA 7 Men’s World Championship campaigns on Tuesday amidst testing conditions at the Royal St George Yacht Club in Dún Laoghaire, Ireland.
With 141 of the world’s elite single-handed dinghy sailors taking to the waters of Dublin Bay, a busy three-race opening day saw the Bermudian pair navigate shifting winds and a choppy sea state in their bid to secure qualification for the coveted Gold Fleet.
Racing in the Yellow Fleet, Kempe produced the stronger overall showing of the two Bermudians on Day One.
The former Youth World Champion opened his regatta with a 22nd-place finish in Race 1, followed by an improved 17th in Race 2. He concluded the day with a 23rd-place effort in the third race.
After discarding his lowest finish (23rd) as the series' first drop came into effect, Kempe ended the opening day in 69th place overall with 39 net points.
Competing in the Red Fleet, Patton faced a challenging opening two outings before finding his rhythm in the afternoon.
Patton crossed the line in 45th in the opening race and followed with a 43rd-place finish in Race 2. However, he bounced back strongly in the third and final race of the day, carving his way through the fleet to finish in a solid 24th place.
Discarding his 45th from the opening race, Patton sits in the lower half of the leaderboard on 67 net points, with plenty of opportunities to climb the rankings as qualifying continues.
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Monday, August 24, 2026
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2026 Bermuda Gold Cup Countdown
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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
1. Johnie Berntsson (SWE) — defending champion, World Sailing (WS) Open Ranking #3
2. Chris Poole (USA) — WS Open Ranking #1
Eric Monnin (SUI) — WS Open Ranking #4
4. Christian Hamilton (GBR) — WS Open Ranking #5
5. Oscar Engström (SWE) — WS Open Ranking #6
6. Aurélien Pierroz (FRA) — WS Open Ranking #9
7. Jeppe Borch (DEN) — WS Open Ranking #13
8. Anna Östling (SWE) — WS Open Ranking #70 / WS Women’s Ranking #2
9. 🇫🇷 Pauline Courtois (FRA) — WS Open Ranking #19 / WS Women’s Ranking #1
10. 🇸🇪 Martina Carlsson (SWE) — WS Open Ranking #53 / WS Women’s Ranking #5
11. 🇺🇸 Allie Blecher (USA) — WS Open Ranking #344 / WS Women’s Ranking #9
12. TBC Winner of Oakcliff International 2026
World Sailing rankings at July 1st, 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.
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.”
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Wednesday, August 19, 2026
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Wollmann Wins RHADC Summer Regatta
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Michael Wollmann produced a commanding series of performances on the water to claim victory in the RS21 fleet at the Royal Hamilton Amateur Dinghy Club Summer Regatta in Hamilton Harbour.
Competing across a competitive five-race series, Wollmann demonstrated superior consistency and tactical sharpness in the local waters, finishing atop the leaderboard with an impressive net total of just 4.0 points.
Patrick Cooper secured the runner-up spot after a solid regatta, taking second place overall on 8.0 points.
The battle for the final podium place was tightly contested, with Ellie Cumpsty holding off the chasing pack to finish third on 13.0 points.
William Reid followed closely behind in fourth place with 14.0 points, while Jason Cole rounded out the five-boat fleet in fifth with a total of 16.0 points.
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Sunday, August 16, 2026
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Bermuda Finish Sixth at Team Racing World Championship
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Bermuda’s sailors secured an impressive sixth-place finish overall as the 2026 Team Racing World Championship drew to a close on the waters of Riddarfjärden in Stockholm, Sweden.
The eight-strong contingent—comprising co-skippers Joshua Greenslade and Alan Frith alongside Amelia Lewis, Cecelia Wollman, Samantha Dill, Sebastian Round, Emily Davis, and Aiden Young—concluded four grueling days of high-stakes racing by claiming a spot in the top half of the 12-nation fleet.
"King of the Castle" Knockout Run
Entering the final day in the "King of the Castle" knockout ladder, Bermuda hit top form early, rattling off consecutive rubber-match victories against the Bahamas and host nation Sweden.
A tightly contested battle against Ireland on the final stretch ended in a narrow defeat, confirming Bermuda's final position in sixth place—a notable improvement from their tenth-place finish at the previous world championship in Newport, Rhode Island.
Quotes: "We Hit the Goal"
Speaking after the final race, co-skipper Joshua Greenslade praised the team's progression over the regatta:
"Overall, it was a great event for us. Getting this many reps over these past four days has been invaluable, and we made fewer and fewer silly errors as the championship progressed."
Crew member Amelia Lewis highlighted the rapid chemistry built within the squad across the two-boat format:
"Over the course of the four days, our starts improved with many tight races. Many teams mentioned that the races against us were long and competitive due to changing control and well-executed maneuvers.
"I think our team dynamic across our two boats was super strong, especially since we hadn't had much practice as a full team. All of my experience is in three-boat team racing, so this event was really interesting with Rule 16 turned off and prioritizing maintaining complete control at all times. I also enjoyed experiencing the different styles of team racing by the various countries. It was a great event and we'd love to compete again in the future."
Emily Davis reflected on the tactical demands and technological innovation witnessed during the event:
"The last four days have delivered incredible racing and great experience against world-class team racers. Coming from three-boat team racing in the UK at university, transitioning to 2v2 was an interesting shift—feeling slightly more like match racing at times. We experienced all types of conditions and we're pleased with how we adapted and kept racing tight.
"It was also really cool to see Sweden testing out new AI trackers to livestream the races and compare umpire calls and what we saw on the water to what the AI picked up. Hopefully we'll be back to challenge again."
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Saturday, August 15, 2026
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Bermuda Set for 'King of the Castle' Knockout After Dramatic Day 3
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Bermuda’s sailors concluded a grueling preliminary round-robin stage at the Team Racing World Championship in Stockholm, finishing tied for sixth before a tiebreaker relegated them to seventh place overall.
Navigating light and shifty breezes on Swedish waters, Bermuda posted a 3-4 record across seven demanding races on Day 3, bringing their overall standing to 11 wins and 11 losses.
The result left them level on points with host nation Sweden. While the two sides split their head-to-head encounters 1-1, Sweden’s victory in their most recent clash handed them sixth position on the secondary tiebreaker.
Format Restructure Triggers Ladder Knockout
Weather delays across the opening days prompted regatta organizers to scrap the traditional Gold and Silver round-robins. Instead, the championship moves straight into the final phase:
Medal Knockout (Places 1–4): The top four teams—USA 1, USA 2, New Zealand, and Great Britain—advance directly to contest the semi-finals, finals, and petit final.
"King of the Castle" (Places 5–12): The remaining eight nations enter an ascending knockout ladder to determine final placements.
Under the ladder system, 11th-placed Australia and 12th-placed Japan will race first, with the winner progressing to face 10th-placed Finland, climbing all the way to a clash against fifth-placed Ireland.
Starting from seventh, Bermuda will contest between one and three races on the final day, with the opportunity to finish as high as fifth overall with three consecutive wins
Greenslade: "Our Racing Has Gotten Better"
Despite the frustration of missing out on the top-four medal bracket, Bermuda pushed the world's elite to the limit in tricky conditions. All four of their Day 3 defeats came against teams inside the top five, with nearly every contest decided by mere boatlengths on the final leg.
Inconsistent umpiring calls and variable breeze added to the challenge, but the squad took major positives from their growing tactical sharpness.
Speaking after the day's racing, Bermuda’s Joshua Greenslade reflected on the team’s upward trajectory:
"Our racing has gotten better and better as the event has gone on. Even with our record today, we sailed really well in our losses and arguably we could have won all our races today—but that’s the difference between the top teams and us.
"Finishing the job off when we are in those situations and winning the final move was our weak point against the top teams."
Bermuda will look to convert that sharpness into results when racing gets underway for Sunday's knockout finale on Stockholm's Riddarfjärden.
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