Eric Monnin has a score to settle with defending champion Johnie Berntsson in the final of the Bermuda Gold Cup on Sunday.

The Swiss sailor lost to Berntsson in their only other meeting in the final between the two rivals a decade ago but feels good about his chances of success ahead of the showdown in Hamilton Harbour.

“I remember exactly ten years ago facing Berntsson in the final and he won but now it’s our turn,” Monnin told The Royal Gazette. “That was our first final here, now we are same again.

“It’s sailing and anything can happen. But we are feeling good and so we will see how it goes.”

Triumphantly raising the coveted King Edward VII Gold Cup is something Monnin has dreamt of.

“I have thought a couple of times what World Tour event I would like to win the most and it’s this one,” he said.

“It’s a big thing for us and we are so happy to get another chance. It’s a big privilege and honestly this time we feel ready to go.”

Swede Berntsson is also looking forward to crossing swords with Monnin in what promises to be an exciting final.

“We have been racing Eric a lot and we know for sure he is good in light wind conditions,” he said. “We know they are good here and we have had some really tight battles with them.

“I know when we are on top of our game we are able to beat them so we are looking forward to that. For sure they are one of the strongest competitors we can race here so we are looking forward to it and it should be exciting.

“Even though it’s going to be light wind I think we are going to see some tight racing.”

Berntsson holds a psychological advantage heading into the final having beaten Monnin in the round-robin stage of the regatta earlier in the week.

The three-times regatta winner kept his title defence on track courtesy of a 3-1 win over New Zealand’s Nick Egnot-Johnson in the semi-final contested in light and fluky breezes yesterday.

“We sailed here in shifty conditions earlier but this was one of the hardest I think because the wind changed very, very quickly,” he added.

“Sometimes we couldn’t even read what was going to happen to the last second decision at the bottom of the gate, which side we wanted to go, and that was really the deciding outcome of the match.”

Egnot-Johnson conceded the better team won on the day.

“They sailed really well and were able to pick the shifts better a lot better than us,” he said.

“It felt like we were sailing really well a lot of the time but sometimes some shifts don’t go your way and that’s just sailing and part of sailing.”

Monnin progressed to the final after dispatching American Chris Poole 3-0 in the last semi-final.

“We had very strong starts and then quite some luck sometimes. But also we had to be patient enough to wait for the wind shifting before just trying to force the wind to do what you want. That worked so well,” he said.

“Once we were in front after the start we had some moments were had some doubts but the key was not overreact and we felt very good.”

Poole found the going much tougher than his rival competing in the softer breeze.

“It was very light air, different to what we have seen the last three days so a bit of an adjustment for us and I think Eric Monnin sailed really well,” he said.

“They got off the line fast and seemed always to have the right shift which kept us on the back foot so we were never really able to get in any of the matches.

“That was pretty frustrating but Eric is sailing really well this week so not surprising.”

Poole and Johnson will now face off in the Petite final to determine third place.