While the recent America’s Cup may have enthralled sailing’s adrenalin junkies, those seeking a purer test of skill should head to Hamilton Harbour this week as some of the world’s top sailors compete for the Bermuda Gold Cup.

Held alongside the Aspen Bermuda Women’s Match Racing Regatta, which will feature the exciting climax to the women’s Match Racing Tour, the Bermuda Gold Cup begins today with ten skippers competing in identical boats to bring tactics and sailing skill to the fore.

No one at this week’s aquatic festival has mastered Bermuda’s waters recently quite as well as Johnie Berntsson, the reigning and four-times champion, who is back at one of his favourite race venues in the world.

“We really love this place and it’s a wonderful place to race, with great organisation and a wonderful place to match race,” Berntsson told The Royal Gazette as he made final preparations at Royal Bermuda Yacht Club yesterday.

“It’s a privilege to be invited and come to the event and we’re looking forward to defending the Cup.”

After more than a decade of racing in Bermuda, not much can surprise Berntsson but he is always wary of improving young crews.

“We have been here so much that we know the conditions but after 12 years of being here you sometimes forget some of the races you have done,” Berntsson said.

“We have our structure, experience, but of course we are always facing new opponents and we need to be on top of our game.

“We won our first regatta after four years of competing and there are a couple of teams this year who have competed four times and they are improving each time, learning, and we need to be on our toes to win.”

The Bermuda regatta is the penultimate stop on this year’s World Match Racing Tour, with the final taking place in China in December and Berntsson and his crew need a big result this week if they are to challenge for the main prize.

“We are doing the four big tour events and then China,” the Swedish skipper said.

“At the Congressional Cup, we were struggling a bit and ended up in eighth place and we were not happy with that.”

“We decided then to really go for it in Marstrand and after a tight finals we were second there and sailing good. We need a good result here because our minds need to be on top for the China event. We are happy where we are but not happy where we begin.”

With the America’s Cup fresh in everybody’s mind and debate raging about the importance of design and technology when it comes to winning, Berntsson is keen to emphasise that winning in Bermuda this week will take all of his sailing skill.

“Constructional design work will not be deciding the outcome here,” Berntsson said.

“We have similar boats, we are swapping boats, and it’s all about the crew and the teamwork. It’s more pure from that perspective and if you compare with America’s Cup, you can win that in the design room.

“It’s not that the sailing is unimportant but the design part is just as important also. They are two different ways of sailing and I just love this way.”

Berntsson is second in the match racing world rankings at the moment, with world No 1 Chris Poole, from the United States, and third-ranked Eric Monnin, from Switzerland, also among those competing.

Running alongside the Bermuda Gold Cup is the Women’s Match Racing Regatta, with three skippers in contention to be crowned season champion this week.

Julia Aartsen, from the Netherlands, leads the standings on 26 points, four clear of France’s Pauline Courtois, with Kristine Mauritzen, from Denmark, on 18 points and Megan Thomson, from New Zealand, on 17.

The defending women’s World Match Racing Tour champion Anna Ostling, from Sweden, is also competing in Bermuda but is out of contention for this year’s title after not sailing in enough events.