The next America's Cup winner could be discovered in Bermuda.

As one of the few Grade One regattas in the world to offer amateur skippers and up-and-comers a chance to match race against the professionals, the Bermuda Gold Cup regularly shows up on resumes of the world's best yachting skippers.

Paul Cayard, Russell Coutts, Peter Gilmour and Gavin Brady have all made their mark on this event and there are scores of young sailors working their way towards future America's Cup campaigns by gaining valuable experience on the Swedish Match Tour.

The Royal Bermuda Yacht Club (RBYC) has announced the eight seeded skippers who will compete in this year's Gold Cup - to be held between October 12 and 20 - the fourth of nine events on Swedish Match Tour 200.

Three of the skippers are ranked on the Swedish Match Tour rankings.

The winner of the Gold Cup will receive the King Edward VII Trophy and a share of the $65,000 prize purse.

"There are a number of highly qualified skippers making their debut in Bermuda this year," said RBYC Commodore Les Crane. "Traditionally the Gold Cup fields a strong fleet of talented sailors and this year is no exception."

The eight seeded skippers are Bjorn Hansen (Sweden), Jes Gram-Hansen (Denmark), Karol Jablonski (Poland), Lars Nordbjerg (Denmark), Jesper Radich (Denmark), Steffan Lindberg (Finland) Mikael Lindqvist (Sweden) and Matthias Rahm (Sweden).

The RBYC also named the unseeded skippers who will compete in a qualifying round with the top-finishing eight teams advancing into Round One of the Bermuda Gold Cup.

Those skippers include Sally Barkow (USA), Bill Buckles (USA), Scott Dickson (USA), Andy Horton (USA), Peter Bromby (Bermuda), Michael Green (St. Lucia), Marten Hedlund (Sweden), Henrik Jensen (Denmark), Anthony Kotoun (US Virgin Islands), Chris Law (UK), Tucker Thompson (USA), Mason Woodworth (U.K.) and Karl Ziegler (USA). The field also includes the top two skippers in the Bacardi Cup, to be held between September 28 and 29 in Hamilton Harbour. Meanwhile, the Bermuda International Women's Match Racing Championship will serve as a unique qualifying round to the Bermuda Gold Cup, with the winner and runner-up advancing to Round One.

The skippers for this event include Elizabeth Baylis (USA), Marie Bjorling (Sweden), Sandy Hayes (USA), Elizabeth Kratzig (USA), Paula Lewin (Bermuda), Lotte Pedersen (Denmark), Deborah Willist (USA) and Klarrtje Zuiderbaan (Netherlands).

With a 32-skipper format - the largest of its kind in the world - the Bermuda Gold Cup remains one of the few Grade One match-racing events that offers an opportunity for unranked skippers to break into the sport of match racing.

The summer-long fitted dinghy competition was "no Contest".

Last Sunday the skipper and crew of the Royal Bermuda Yacht Club vessel Contest lifted the Coronation Cup, beating last year's winner, Victory, into second place, as the curtain came down on the Fitted Dinghy Association's racing programme.

The final day of racing was cancelled due to inclement weather. This left Contest's skipper Somers Kempe - in his first year in the competition - and his crew at the top of the standings. Third was Elizabeth and Sandy's Boat Club's entry, Challenger, was fourth.

The Jubilee Cup competition, scheduled for the last day, was also cancelled because of the weather and consequently, the current holder of the that cup - Elizabeth - will keep it for another year.