Lack of wind kept the King Edward VII Gold Cup fleet onshore yesterday, giving American Ed Baird another day to plan his tactics as he aims for a first-ever triumph in Bermuda waters.

Baird, the International Sailing Federation's (ISF) number one ranked match race sailor and a helmsman with the America's Cup defender , will be eyeing a golden finish as he and seven other top ranked match racers face off against six skippers from the qualifying event plus the champion and runner-up from this week's Women's Match Racing World Championships, Americans Sally Barkow and Betsy Allison.

"I have never won the Gold Cup before and we would like to make it happen. That is a top priority," said Baird.

"We return to this event year after year because it set the standard for match racing a long time ago. I have been coming here to race for so long that when the taxi driver dropped me off at my host's house he said 'welcome home'."

Baird will be sailing with members of the Swiss America's Cup defender Team Alinghi, including Mike Drummond, Dean Phipps and Pieter van Nieuwenhuyzan.

In their opening race today they face Swiss qualifier Eric Monnin.

Meanwhile, Russell Coutts, the returning 2004 champion and seven-time Gold Cup winner, ranked third by the ISAF, faces the fifth place qualifier, Takumi Nakamura from Japan.

"I am going to go for number eight," Coutts said on his way out to a practice session on Wednesday with his team-mates Jes Gram Hansen, Christian Kamp and Rasmus Kostner ? the same team with whom he sailed in 2004. "That is what I am here for."

James Spithill, runner-up a year ago, is the reigning ISAF 'Open" Match Racing world champion and helmsman of the Luna Rossa AC challenger. He's the fifth seed and has drawn second-ranked qualifier Cameron Appleton.

Spithill had to settle for second best against Coutts last year as the Gold Cup final was shortened by a 35-knot Sunday storm.

Appleton, sailing for local sponsor Triangle Rigging, had an impressive 9-2 run in the qualifiers and is likely to be a tough opponent.

Chris Dickson, the BMW Oracle America's Cup challenge skipper and two-time Gold Cup winner has drawn new women's champion Barkow, while women's runner-up Alison faces New Zealander Gavin Brady.

"This is such a unique event and there are very few opportunities for men and women to sail against each other like this," said Brady.

"There are no guarantees out there and if the breeze is light it will be a race that is more about finesse than physical strength. Both teams will come out on the water sailing strong."

In other stage one matches, number three seed Mathieu Richard of France, ranked fourth by the ISAF, will meet Bill Hardesty of San Diego, California who was fourth in the qualifiers with a 6-5 record.

"We won't be doing anything differently but we do know we have to be on top of our game," said Hardesty. "Match racing is such a game of timing and positioning that we just have to go out there and sail well."

Ian Williams from England is ranked sixth by the ISAF. He goes up against Karol Jablonski of Poland, helmsman for America's Cup team Desafio Espanol who arrived a day late for the qualifying event because of passport problems. He took over from team-mate John Cutler who had got the team to 2-2 and promptly won five in a row, ending the round robin in third with a score of 8-3.

Twelfth ranked Staffan Lindberg of Finland meets the top unseeded qualifier Cameron Dunn who will be racing with his Mascalzone Latino team-mates Michele Paoletti, Marco Constant and Matteo Auguadro. He enjoyed a nearly flawless qualifying event, finishing at 10-1 ? his only loss coming against Elizabeth Kratzig after taking a red flag penalty at the start.

Stage one of the Gold Cup is a knockout round with no team being able to afford a bad day. The first team to win three races goes forward while the loser slots into a fifth to eighth consolation bracket to determine prize winnings for those teams.

Up for grabs is $100,000 in prizemoney.