the $100,000 Omega Gold Cup, set to commence on Sunday with qualifying in Hamilton Harbour.

And while the absence of defending champion and current world number three Russell Coutts of New Zealand diminishes the pool there remains a fair share of talent among those scheduled to attend.

Leading the way is Australia's Peter Gilmour -- seeded first for this year's event -- a quarter-finalist last year who recently claimed the top spot in the rankings following his triumph at the ACI Ronhill Cup in France last month.

This came after previous wins during the Nippon Cup and Swedish Match Cup -- all grade one events.

Another Aussie, 1993 runner-up Rod Davis, provides both a marquee name and a yachtsman of great skill and is certainly a candidate for the $30,000 winner's cheque.

Davis is the helmsman for One Australia , one of two Australian challengers for the 1995 America's Cup. In 1993 he captured both the Congressional Cup and Omega Australian Cup to spur him to the number two spot in the world.

"It's a shame that Russell's not here to defend his title, which he won the last two years, but I think a good thing is that we're guaranteed a new champion and I think that obviously adds excitement,'' said Ben Cesar, of Sail Sports International, organisers of the event.

"People like Rod Davis, who's been bridesmaid here for two years, in 1991 to Eddie Warden-Owen and last year to Russell, they still have unfinished business here. They want to win the Gold Cup and they know the talent is here and want to come back and get the job done.

"We're pretty happy with that and the effect it can have on the team.'' Included among the remaining seeds are American Ed Baird, Dutchman Roy Heiner, Britain's Chris Law and Eddie Warden-Owen, Magnus Holmberg of Sweden, another Brit and Germany's Marcus Wieser.

However, despite the wealth of talent among the seeded skippers there lies great interest outside this circle, with most attention focussed on one man ...Chris Dickson, who makes a welcome return after a one-year hiatus from match racing to head Tokio during the Whitbread Round the World race.

The sailing supremo fell to 28th in the rankings during this time away and will no doubt be anxious to reclaim the title he held previously in 1987 and 1989.

Meanwhile, organisers have announced that Canada's Larry Lemieux, a former Fin world champion, has been chosen to replace Anders Myralf, who had ironically been listed as a replacement for Spain's Pedro Campos.

Also, Bermudian Blythe Walker has been given new life as a late replacement for Britain's Richard Merriweather.

Chris Dickson