Organisers of the Bermuda Gold Cup sailing regatta have set August 31 as the deadline to decide whether the event will take place.

The Bermuda Gold Cup, the Royal Bermuda Yacht Club’s $100,000 match racing regatta, was scheduled for May until Covid-19 forced the closure of the airport in March. The event has been rescheduled for October 25 to 30.

This year’s regatta will be the 70th competition for the King Edward VII Trophy — the oldest match racing trophy in the world for one-design yachts — and will feature more than 70 sailors competing in 16 crews.

“Our primary concern is the safety and health of the participants, the club members and staff, Bermudians as a whole, and of course we defer to the Bermuda Government and their health experts to help frame those standards and protocols,” said regatta chairperson Leatrice Oatley in a letter addressed to competitors.

“We have decided that August 31 will be our BGC ‘Go/No-Go’ date to make a decision based on the Covid criteria.”

The criteria being monitored relate to travel, quarantining, both in a competitor’s home country and in Bermuda, testing availability, local boating restrictions with regards to social distancing and accommodations.

“Bermuda has fared well to date, partly through the closing of the airports from mid-March to July 1, but also from some aggressive shelter in place legislation and testing protocols,” Oatley said.

“On July 1 Bermuda entered Phase 4, including the return of commercial flights. Testing refinements of residents and visitors returning to the island are being fine-tuned and sailing is easing back to the new normalcy, as are other aspects of island life.”

The Bermuda Gold Cup is presented by Argo Group for the benefit of the Bermuda Institute of Ocean Sciences (BIOS).