Unseeded Gold Cup skippers announced

Heavyweight roster to join the Bermuda match racing in October

Organisers of the Investors Guaranty™ Presentation of the King Edward VII Gold Cup have announced the unseeded skippers who will compete in a three-day round robin qualifier from 18-20 October 18-20.

The unique format of the King Edward VII Gold Cup, sailed in Bermuda’s famous International One Design sloops, includes this Grade 3 qualifying event where the top six skippers advance to round one of the Tournament of the Investors Guaranty™ Presentation of the King Edward VII Gold Cup and face the eight seeded skippers along with the winner and runner-up of the Bermuda International Women’s Match Race Championship. The winner of the King Edward VII Gold Cup will be presented with the King Edward VII Trophy and a share of the $100,000 prize purse.

Competition in the qualifying event will be fierce with two of the skippers ranked in the top 10 on the Swedish Match Tour, including No 1 Magnus Holmberg of Sweden, who sailed with Victory Challenge, the Swedish America’s Cup team and No. 5 Kelvin Harrap of Ireland, who sailed with OneWorld Challenge. They will be joined by America’s Cup winner and world match racing champion Ed Baird of the U.S.; Olympic Soling bronze medallist Paolo Cian of Italy and 1999 Gold Cup champion Andy Green of the U.K. Other 2003 America’s Cup sailors participating are Team New Zealand’s Cameron Appleton and Oracle BMW Racing’s Cameron Dunn. Rounding out the roster is Scott Dickson of the U.S.; Mattias Rahm of Sweden; Staffan Lindberg of Finland, Bill Hardesty of the U.S., Maxim Taranov of Russia, Matthew Gregory of the U.S. and Bermuda’s Peter Bromby.

"With its 32-skipper format and qualifying events, the King Edward VII Gold Cup is one of the few regattas in the world to offer amateur skippers and up-and-comers a chance to match race against the professionals," said Royal Bermuda Yacht Club Commodore Les Crane. "This unseeded skipper group is the strongest line-up we’ve seen in the history of the event."

Title sponsor is Investors Guaranty™. The event is hosted by the Royal Bermuda Yacht Club and the Bermuda Department of Tourism. Renaissance Reinsurance is the Presenting Sponsor. Primary Sponsors are Bacardi, Colorcraft, Continental Airlines, Coral Beach and Tennis Club, Horizons Resort , Oleander Cycles, Omega, the Waterloo House and Wedgwood.