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Wednesday, August 26, 2026
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Kempe & Patton Continue at ILCA 7 World Championships
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Bermudian sailors Sebastian Kempe and Campbell Patton have completed the qualifying phase of the 2026 ILCA 7 Men’s World Championship in Dún Laoghaire, Ireland, after navigating two further races in easing Dublin Bay breezes.
With five races now completed across the opening two days, the qualifying series has concluded on schedule at the Royal St George Yacht Club, setting up the fleet splits for the upcoming elimination rounds.
Racing got underway promptly at 12:00 noon in 11 knots of breeze and an active swell, before conditions eased into a lighter 7-9 knots with smaller waves through the afternoon.
Competing in the Red Fleet, Kempe registered a 28th-place finish in the day's opening race before following up with 31st in the second contest.
The former Youth World Champion sits in 77th place overall with 90 net points, putting him in contention for the Silver Fleet for the next stage of competition.
Campbell Patton, sailing in the Blue Fleet, mirrored his compatriot’s consistency across the two races.
Patton crossed the line in 31st in the opening race of the day before improving to take 28th in the afternoon's second race. He heads into the next phase sitting in 110th position overall on 126 net points.
The 141-boat championship fleet will now be divided into Gold, Silver, and Bronze fleets for the elimination series, with the first two finals races scheduled to start on Thursday.
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Wednesday, August 26, 2026
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Airforce claim victory in Wednesday Night Sailing Series
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Airforce secured victory on Race Day 18 of the Wednesday Night Sailing Series, triumphing on corrected time following a competitive evening of racing across Hamilton Harbour and the Great Sound.
Navigating the short course, the fleet faced testing tactical conditions, where line honours ultimately did not translate to overall glory on handicap.
Crossfire set the physical pace across the water, crossing the finish line first with an elapsed time of 47:15. However, once the rating calculations were applied, their corrected time of 52:07 pushed them back into a share of third place.
That opened the door for Airforce, who crossed the line second in 54:08 but converted their effort into a winning corrected time of 51:14 to claim top honours on the night.
Scatteraction proved the closest challenger to the leaders, posting a corrected time of 51:32 to take a well-deserved second place.
The margins remained razor-thin throughout the upper half of the leaderboard. Fat Tuesday matched Crossfire’s corrected mark to the second, stopping the clock at 52:07 to finish in a dead heat for third position.
Back in Black rounded out the top five, crossing with a corrected time of 52:25 to cap off an action-packed 18th round of the midweek series.
Race Day 18 Wednesday Night Sailing Series Results
51:14 Airforce
51:32 Scatteraction
52:07 Fat Tuesday
52:07 Crossfire
52:25 Back in Black
52:29 Wind Fire
53:16 Menace
54:23 Thrash
54:34 Encore
54:42 RS 21 Neamer
54:47 RS 21 Reid
54:51 Tiburon
54:59 Jitterbug
55:09 Solna II
55:17 Peppercorn
55:24 Cyclone
55:25 Vrenden
55:28 RS 21 Frank
55:33 Celerity
56:34 RS 21 Leach
57:03 6 Savagers
37:35 Shogun
57:49 Lix
59:01 Grace
59:33 Shadow
1:09:26 RS 21 Red Burns
1:10:31 Swoon
RET Nasty Medicine
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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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