seeking success at the Brut Gold Cup.

Action in the $100,000 event gets underway tomorrow, with the round robin qualifying series involving the 16 unseeded skippers on tap (Group One racing starts at 9 a.m.).

Chief organiser Scott McLeod was one of those anxiously awaiting the commencement and yesterday acknowledged tactics as the overriding factor for achieving ultimate glory.

"You've got to be patient,'' explained McLeod, whose company Sail Sports International has overseen the rise of the regatta from one among many to perhaps the most prominent among the match racing circuit.

"If you ever watch Russell (Coutts) race he's not always ahead at the start, but he's very patient and he and his crew work together to keep the boat going. They try to stay as close to the leaders as possible and when the door opens they strike, so you've got to be really patient.

"The IOD boats are very difficult to sail, they're old and they're heavy, so you've got to really be smooth and if you start to get nervous of anxious you slow the boat down, so you need a lot of finesse and patience.'' Reigning America's Cup champion skipper Coutts, of New Zealand, is the unabashed favourite heading in following his sweep of the first four stops among the five event Brut by Faberge Series, claiming the Brut Cups of Royal Lymington, San Francisco, France and New York as his own.

And, for good measure, the Kiwi last weekend added the World Match Racing Championships crown, competed for in Croatia.

Yet this will hardly be a cakewalk for Coutts, touted by some as the Michael Jordan of match racing, as all nozzles will be squarely aimed in his direction, ready to fire.

Getting little mention, but a viable threat is Peter Gilmour of neighbouring Australia. The lanky Aussie -- ranked number three in the world among the Omega Match Race Sailing rankings -- just happens to be the defending Gold Cup champion, although Coutts' stellar year has pushed him and everyone else into the background.

Second ranked Ed Baird of the United States is another with his eyes on the prize, while England's Chris Law (eight), Thierry Peponnet (nine) of France and Peter Holmberg (10) of US Virgin Islands have designs of their own.

Also lurking is the spectre of Bermuda's own Peter Bromby, who came close to beating the Kiwi back in 1993, while unseeded German Jochen Schuemann, the Olympic soling class match racing gold medallist could also create a stir if he can make it beyond qualifying.

However, the focus has almost exclusively been upon Coutts and why not.

"At this point I think it's pretty tough to bet against him, but it may depend on how focussed he is coming off some major wins,'' said McLeod, hinting at the possibility of burnout on the part of New Zealander. "Last year he wasn't very focussed at this time, it's been a long year and he's had a lot of successes. Also it will be interesting to see whether he's totally focussed or not on winning.'' He has been all year, why stop now? SAILING: Brut Gold Cup