The Royal Bermuda Yacht Club (RBYC) is inviting amateur and professional skippers to apply for 13 of the 16 unseeded skippers? berths in the 2002 ADT Gold Cup, to be raced in Bermuda October 12-20. The winners of the Bacardi and York Cups will fill the three remaining berths.

A three-day round robin qualifier is planned aboard International One Design class sloops, with the top six skippers advancing to Round One of the ADT Gold Cup. The ADT Women’s Match Racing Championship – to be held concurrent with the unseeded skippers? qualifier round – will also qualify two skippers for the ADT Gold Cup, the fourth event on Swedish Match Tour 2002/3. The winner of the ADT Gold Cup will receive the King Edward VII Trophy and a share of the $65,000 prize purse.

Les Crane, RBYC commodore commented: “With its 32-skipper format and qualifying events, the ADT 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. While we will miss Russell Coutts and some of the other America’s Cup skippers this year, there are a number of highly-qualified skippers that We’ve already heard from and we expect strong competition for one of the largest purses in match racing.”

Past winners of the Gold Cup now preparing for the America’s Cup 2003 include Russell Coutts (six-time winner), Chris Dickson (two-time winner), Rod Davis, Peter Gilmour (two-time winner), Andy Green, Peter Isler and defending champion Peter Holmberg.

For more details and an application for entry, log on to the event’s official website www.adtgoldcup.com. The entry deadline is 1 August.