The Bermuda Gold Cup has never been short on history, but this year it is sailed on an entirely different fleet.
Twelve of the world's top match racing skippers arrive for the penultimate stage of the 2026 World Match Racing Tour, and the boats underneath them have changed completely. The International One Designs that carried the Gold Cup's reputation for decades are gone, replaced by a brand-new fleet of eight Fareast 28R keelboats.
It's a bigger shift than it sounds. The Fareast 28Rs normally race with asymmetric spinnakers, but Bermuda's boats have been specially retrofitted with symmetric kites instead. That should let crews sail deeper downwind angles and, in theory, bring boats closer together for the kind of aggressive match racing the event is known for.
So the IODs retire, and an era ends. But the new boats were given a proper send-off of their own. On Friday evening the Bishop of Bermuda, Nicholas Dill, blessed the new fleet, sprinkling holy water across the bow of each of the eight boats.
Leading the charge is Sweden's Johnie Berntsson, chasing a fourth consecutive Gold Cup title. He beat Ian Williams of Great Britain in last year's final to complete the first Bermuda Gold Cup hat-trick since the event's modern format began in 1985, his fifth win overall. Only Sir Russell Coutts, with seven, has won more.
Williams is back for another crack at it, this time with Christian Hamilton aboard alongside Richard Sydenham and Jon Gunderson, both part of Williams's winning crew at the WMRT world championship final in Shenzhen in January.
The women's fleet is stacked too. Six-time Women's World Match Racing Champion Pauline Courtois of France leads her Match in Pink crew into Bermuda waters, up against Sweden's Anna Östling, who won last year's women's regatta there.
Fellow Swede Martina Carlsson and American skipper Allie Blecher round out the women's contingent, four of the sharpest match racers in the sport competing for the same trophy.
New fleet, famous trophy, familiar faces. Bermuda's waters are about to get busy.
World Sailing rankings at 1 July 2026
🇸🇪 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 🇦🇺 Tom Picot (AUS), WS Open Ranking No. 23
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.
