WHILE this month's King Edward VII Gold Cup will feature some of the best match racing sailors in the world, Bermuda's juniors will also come up against top sailors who are flying in from countries like New Zealand, Australia, Denmark, Argentina, Great Britain and Italy.

With the world's best competing in the International One Design in Hamilton Harbour for the Gold Cup, the juniors will be competing in the Renaissance Reinsurance Junior Gold Cup from October 9-12. The regatta will be sailed in the Great Sound and in Hamilton Harbour.

Invitations were sent out to the Optimist Dinghy associations of 16 countries on five continents in an attempt to lure their best Opti sailors to Bermuda.

Among those who will be competing will be Ian Barrows from the US Virgin Islands who was second in the World Championships, Balder Tobiasen from Denmark who was eighth in the Worlds in Turkey this year and Great Britain's Jamie Diamond ¿ the top ranked Brit ¿ and who is a member of GBR Worlds Team.

This will be the sixth year that Renaissance Reinsurance has sponsored the event, providing the financial support to fly the guest sailors to Bermuda and providing them with charter boats and equipment required to compete. The international youth sailors, ages 13 to 15, are selected by national Optimist associations. Once in Bermuda they are hosted by local families and gain an insight to Bermuda culture by spending a day in school with their hosts.

The backdrop of the King Edward VII Gold Cup match-racing event running concurrently with the youth event provides the real bonus for all the kids entered in the regatta ¿ they are surrounded by their sailing heroes when not on the water.

The young sailors attend the daily Gold Cup press conferences and mix and mingle among the teams competing in the main event. World-renowned sailors and Americas Cup veterans such as Ed Baird, Torben Grael, Dennis Conner, Russell Coutts and others have given freely of their time by participating in youth sailing clinics, explaining the finer points of sailing and sportsmanship.

This year the young sailors will also meet great Britain's Ben Ainslie, winner of multiple gold medals in the Olympics and the eight of the top ten skippers on the World Match Racing Tour including the likes of Mathieu Richard from France and Ian Williams from the UK.

There are 24 sailors representing 13 countries in the King Edward VII Gold Cup presented by Argo Group.

Bermuda Optimist Dinghy Association (BODA) past president Ron Stan said of the junior regatta: "It's a fantastic opportunity for Bermudian and invited international sailors to compete against one another on the water, and after the racing, have the chance to meet with the best match racers in the world. The senior sailors are always happy to hold informal discussions with our Opti sailors about rules, racing tactics and their sailing experiences.

"Staying with the locals is a great cultural and life skills experience for all parties. We had five Japanese Opti sailors stay with us during another event, and I can tell you that we all learned a lot from that week."

Stan added: "This regatta kicks off our racing season here in Bermuda. It involves various qualifying series for the International Optimist Dinghy Association championships, such as the Worlds, North Americans, South Americans and Europeans."

The Junior Gold Cup plans for four fleet races per day on Great Sound starting on Thursday, October 9. The final day, Sunday, October 12, will see the championship sailed on Hamilton Harbour during the final rounds of the King Edward VII Gold Cup, if time and conditions allow.

International Opti sailors for the Junior Gold Cup:

Ian Barrows ¿ US Virgin Islands.

Just van Aanholt ¿ Curacao.

Lucia Falasca ¿ Argentina.

Balder Tobiasen ¿ Denmark.

Jesper Gunneling ¿Sweden

Guido d'Errico ¿ Italy.

Fernando Monllor ¿ Puerto Rico.

Duncan Williford ¿ USA.

Douglas Campbell ¿ Australia.

Julien Fougere ¿ Canada.

Sam MacKay ¿ New Zealand.

Jamie Diamond ¿ Great Britain.

Frederick Nygaard ¿ Denmark.

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Bermuda Opti sailors for the Junior Gold Cup:

Brian Bulhoes.

Owen Siese.

Kalin Hillier.

Christopher Sposato.

Mackenzie Cooper.

Dimitri Stevens.

Kyle Burgess.

Raheim Steede.

Sam Stan.

Makai Joell.

Michael Barit.

Antonio Bailey.