WMRT: Argo Group Gold Cup - Goodbye Igor, Hello World

by Talbot Wilson

The organizers of the Royal Bermuda Yacht Club’s Argo Group Gold Cup breathed a big sigh of relief as Hurricane Igor faded from a Cat 4 to a Cat 1 storm and passed fifty miles to the west of Bermuda. Trees were downed and power interrupted but the International One Design (IOD) sailboats used in the World Match Racing Tour’s penultimate event weathered the storm nicely.

“Everything will be fine for practice on Monday, 4 October and racing the round robin competition starting the next day,” said Royal Bermuda YC Commodore Peter Shrubb. “We were certainly in Igor’s bulls eye for a long time and were lucky to escape major damage on the island. We’ll be ready for local spectators and the world to tune in to all the action from the Argo Group Gold Cup.”

The RBYC uses ten locally owned IOD’s for the six-day event. Eight are primary boats and two are held in reserve if boats are damaged in the intense competition Bermuda is famous for. The boats are matched based on performance and experience gained during local racing throughout the year. One boat in the Bermuda IOD fleet, Solna II, sank in the storm, but luckily it wasn’t one that the Argo Group Gold Cup planned to use.

Biographies of skippers, details for Argo Group Gold Cup and a full schedule for events are posted online at http://www.argogroupgoldcup.com

In Bermuda, teams are racing to put their name on the famous King Edward VII Gold Cup Trophy and to take a share of USD$100,000 in prize money. The winner takes half of the purse, so it pays to be first in Bermuda.

The Argo Group Gold Cup is followed on the World Match Racing Tour by their prestigious season ending finale. The Monsoon Cup sailed for the Tour Championship in Kuala Terengganu, Malaysia starts 30 November.

Argo Group Gold Cup
World Match Racing Tour