A schedule change and work commitments ruled out any chance of a Bermuda entry competing in this year’s Argo Group Gold Cup, organisers have revealed.

Jonathan Corless, the commodore of the Royal Bermuda Yacht Club, which is hosting the regatta, said: “The absence of a Bermudian entry in the Argo Group Gold Cup is due to a couple of factors.

“First, because the event was moved from October to May, we were unable to conduct the Bermuda Nationals.

“The winner of that regatta usually gains entry to the Gold Cup.

“Also, the crews that expressed an interest in racing ultimately couldn’t take time away from work.”

Corless expects that next year’s regatta will feature a local entry.

Olympian Eugene “Penny” Simmons, a multiple IOD world champion, was the previous local skipper to win the regatta in 1980 before the event was revamped four years later.

Olympians Peter Bromby and Blythe Walker both finished third in 2002 and 2006, the closest that any local skipper has come to winning the regatta since its revamp.

Racing for the oldest match racing trophy in the world for one-design yachts resumed in Hamilton Harbour this week after a two-year hiatus in part to Bermuda hosting the 35th America’s Cup last summer.

Among the 11 international skippers competing are previous winners Johnie Berntsson, Torvar Mirsky and Taylor Canfield.

Canfield and his USone team-mates are fresh off of their victory at the Congressional Cup in Long Beach, California, last month.

“It has been quite some time since we have sailed the IODs but extremely excited that the Argo Group Gold Cup has resurfaced again,” Canfield said.

“It has always been one of my favourite events on the circuit.”

New Zealand’s Adam Minoprio won the previous event in 2015 after besting Australian Keith Swinton in the final.