Two local sailors fancy their chances of being among the 16 starters in Round One of the upcoming Bermuda Gold Cup.

Adam Barboza and Glenn Astwood are among 14 unseeded skippers who will compete in a qualifying round of the Gold Cup for six places in Round One. Two other qualifier spots are, for the first time, being given to the top two finishers in the inaugural Bermuda International Women's Match Race Championship. The eight qualifiers will join eight seeded skippers in the quest for Gold Cup supremacy.

The absence of many top international sailors from this event - because of the America's Cup - is seen as a chance for Bermuda to capitalise and possibly be victorious in the race which was last won by a Bermudian - Penny Simmons - in 1980.

"As far as the qualifier is concerned, it will probably be a little less difficult than it has been in previous years. But I think once you get through it to the Gold Cup proper, everybody is going to have their work cut out for them.

"I would like to say that we stand a good chance (of reaching Round One). They have changed the format a little bit. Traditionally, they give eight spots out of the 16 to qualifiers and this year they are only giving six because they are taking two (qualifiers) from the women's event.

"So, percentage-wise, you're talking about less spots that we'll be vying for," said Barboza who qualified for a place as an unseeded skipper by being the Bacardi Cup's runner-up.

Despite the ongoing America's Cup, the 34-year-old still expects high-quality racing in the Gold Cup as "the level of sailing has gone up across the board in the last few years" and there are "some very good sailors" in the fleet. Among these, he cited, Englishman Chris Law, Andy Horton of the United States and Bermuda's own Peter Bromby.

"He (Peter) stands just as good a chance. When Peter's on his game he can beat anybody out there. The thing is we know we can beat Peter under the right circumstances. It's going to be a toss-up and I think it will be down to the conditions and a little bit of luck," said Barboza who was the three-time Bacardi Cup champion prior to being dethroned by Bromby last Sunday.

Astwood will be buoyed by his record of having made it past the qualifying stage in all but one of his Gold Cup outings. Still, there is an element of the unknown facing him as he only competed against two of the foreigners in the race.

"It will be tough. Even though the America's Cup guys are not here a lot of good sailors are coming. We have home-water advantage and we are somewhat used to the (IODs) boats though we don't sail them that much. I think Bermuda has a good chance of doing quite well.

"I've done this event for the past 12 years maybe missing one or two (years) in that time so I know what it's about and what to expect even thought a lot of the opposition will be new guys."

Astwood, who was third in the Bacardi Cup, earned an unseeded-skipper berth after Bacardi Cup winner Peter Bromby accepted a place as a seeded skipper therefore leaving an extra qualifying place for Bermuda. The former is aiming to capitalise on this good luck.

"My aim is to get further than I have before in the Gold Cup. It would be nice to get later into the week and still be sailing," said Astwood.

Both he and Barboza will be practising and fine-tuning their racing within the coming days ahead of the Gold Cup's start next Saturday. The race is part of the nine-event Swedish Match Tour.

The two agreed that the Bacardi Cup was excellent preparation for their imminent challenge.

"It really gets you into the whole routine of match racing again. When you're sailing against people like Peter, Glenn, Blythe (Walker) and Paula (Lewin) - they are all world-class sailors - it gets you up to speed very quickly.

"I felt pretty confident with the crew work that we had (in the Bacardi Cup). It's just a matter of polishing up on small nuances that you don't necessarily get in normal fleet racing," said Barboza who has been in the Gold Cup about ten times either as crew or skipper since 1990.

This year his crew is Somers Kempe, Andy Studdiford and Gary Roman.

Astwood (47) was also "quite pleased" with his sailing last weekend. He and his crew - Eddie Bardgett, Scott Simmons and Steve Frischmann - were only beaten by Bromby.

"We were impressed that we gave him some good, hard races considering he has been doing a lot more sailing than anyone on the Island. We were quite competitive with him unlike other years when he used to beat us quite easily," said Astwood.