Home Video Gallery Contact Us Advertise Here
IslandStats.com RSS Feed
Sailing

Home
Sailing Home
Schedules
Current Scores
Historical Scores
Teams
Photo Gallery
Related Links
Contact Us
Advertise
 
IslandStats.com RSS Feed

 

Sailing
Tuesday, October 21, 2025
Monnin & Williams Dominate Gold Cup Opening Day

Pictures Courtesy of Ian Roman/WMRT
IslandStats.com
An incident-packed first day at the 2025 Bermuda Gold Cup featured a collision in the first flight of the day before eight-time match racing world champion Ian Williams shot to the top of the leaderboard with Switzerland’s Eric Monnin. It is also shaping up to be a thrilling Aspen Bermuda Women’s Match Racing Regatta with Sweden’s Anna Östling, Denmark’s Lea Vogelius and USA’s Nicole Breault heading the standings.

The 73rd edition of the iconic Bermuda Gold Cup in Hamilton Harbour started literally with a bang as New Zealands’ Nick Egnot-Johnson collided with Ian Garreta from France in the second race of the opening flight. The day ended with the cream rising to the top as Williams was victorious in all three of his races against Chris Poole, Egnot-Johnson and Garreta.

The British skipper was delighted to be back in Bermuda with his new team sponsored by Pindar by Manuport Logistics and Gladstone’s Long Beach, after a year’s hiatus but admitted it took time to get back into the groove of sailing the IOD (International One Design) yachts.

“The IODs are so much fun to sail and very challenging,” Williams said. “I wouldn’t say we’ve been particularly comfortable in them over the years, but we feel that now we’ve been here over a dozen times, we’re starting to figure it out.”

Despite his strong start to the regatta, Williams knows there is plenty to work on as the regatta progresses. “There is plenty to improve upon as it’s a match racing regatta and what’s good enough on day one is never good enough on day two and certainly not later in the regatta,” he said. “We’ll have a good debrief, work on all those details and come back stronger tomorrow.”

Switzerland’s Monnin was beaten narrowly by defending champion Johnie Berntsson in the final here last year, losing the deciding race in the last 15 metres in a move he described as his “most stupid mistake” of the year.

In the accompanying Aspen Bermuda Women’s Match Racing Tour regatta, three skippers emerged from the opening salvo of matches with three wins apiece, setting up a competitive week: Denmark’s Lea Vogelius, American Nicole Breault, and Sweden’s Anna Östling.

The day’s results featured several significant head-to-head battles:

Vogelius started strongly with wins against defending champion Pauline Courtois (France), Julia Aartsen (The Netherlands), and Breault, before suffering her only defeat to American Lindsey Baab.
Breault proved highly competitive, securing victories over Courtois, Denmark’s Kristine Mauritzen, and Baab. Her sole loss came at the hands of Vogelius.
Östling rounded out the top trio, claiming wins against Aartsen, Martina Carlsson (Sweden), and Mauritzen. Her only defeat came when Courtois crossed the line ahead of her.

The challenging match-race format promises escalating drama as the fleet moves through the round-robin stage over the coming days.

 
 
Last 75 Headlines




IslandStats.com - Bermuda's Online Sports Source
 
© Copyright IslandStats.com