The big fish in the Bermuda Gold Cup repechage pond all made it through to the quarter-finals on day three of competition in Hamilton Harbour.

Chris Poole, Johnnie Berntsson, Pauline Courtois and Eric Monnin progressed into the final eight, with the top four skippers ― Christian Hamilton, Aurelien Pierroz, Oscar Engstrom and Jeppe Borch ― left with difficult choices to make when selecting their quarter-final opponents.

Poole put himself under pressure heading into the final two flights, needing victories in both to ensure his place in the knockout matches, but victories over the eliminated Martina Carlsson and Allison Blecher propelled him over the line.

“We knew we had to win some matches and we won our first two, but Pauline got the better of us in race three,” Poole said.

“We didn’t have our phones, so we weren't really keeping tabs on the score, but we just needed to go out, sail well, work on the things we needed to work on and we knew the rest would come together.”

Berntsson was the only unbeaten sailor on the final day of the repechage, winning all five of his matches to top the standings.

It was a remarkable turnaround for the five-times champions, who lost his first three races of the regatta, with the extra time in the boat helping him and his crew to fine tune their approach.

“Having the third day in the regatta helps and our momentum is going up,” Berntsson said.

“We’re doing less mistakes and the team have been growing together, but the conditions today were a little more stable and the shifts were more predictable, which I think favoured us and we managed to pull off some good starts.

“It was not so randomised as the other two days, so we are really happy and ready for some quarters.”

Pauline Courtois, the six-times women match racing world champion, is the only female skipper through to the final eight and she faced a winner-takes-all match against Anna Ostling in the final flight, with both sailors entering with four wins.

“It was very close, like every time with Anna,” Courtois said. “I think we can still improve our technique level but we were happy with our sailing today.”

Courtois was injured after falling from a rental scooter on her trip to Bermuda last year, with her performance at the event compromised, and she had her scars from the incident on display.

“I have a Bermudian tattoo now and I am hoping that qualifies us for a local passport,” Courtois said. “But we’ve all improved on the bikes this year and have had no problem.”

Monnin finished the repechage tied on four points with Ostling, but made it through as a result of beating her in the round robin stage, and he cut a relieved figure when he was told he was in the quarter-final after returning to shore.

“It’s a big relief as we didn’t really know on the water how this was going to turn out,” Monnin said.

“We knew it was going to be tight, so every match was tense, but we were able to improve and we’re happy to be in the quarter-finals, but we definitely have some little adjustments to do in the pre-start.”

The quarter-finals begin tomorrow at 9.30am.