Julia Aartsen was all smiles back ashore at the Royal Bermuda Yacht Club after topping the pile in the round-robin stage of the Aspen Re Women’s Match Racing Regatta.

The Netherlands helmswoman pipped Pauline Courtois for the top spot on a tie-break after beating her French rival in the head-to head meeting between the pair.

“We finished top together with the French team but we won the race from her and that's better than expected because we knew it was a going to be tight racing this event,” Aartsen told The Royal Gazette.

“We said to each other let’s go for it and see what the result is, but being first after the round robin is super special.”

Aartsen is making her debut in the International One Design racing sloop and appears to have made seamless transition.

“This is the first time in the IOD anywhere,” she added. “It's tough and a big learning curve because yesterday it was super hectic, chaotic on-board and today it went much better.

“We had control, good speed and that's why we managed to get all the wins today.”

Aartsen is now looking forward to the knockout stages of the competition.

“Of course it's always good nerves going into the quarter-finals but exciting so lets go for it and see if we manage to get into the semi-finals,” she said.

Courtois is also pleased with her form heading into the business end of the regatta.

“We won four matches for the qualification so now we are ready for the quarter-final,” she said.

“We are pleased with the way things are going so far. Nothing like this exists in France, so it's difficult to sail but very interesting. The wind is tricky but it’s good to try and play with the wind.”

The quarter-finals begin at 9.30am on Thursday.