Sailing reached a new depth yesterday as the Tyco Pro Am Charity Regatta went from Hamilton Harbour onto the dining room floor of the Royal Bermuda Yacht Club.

Gale force winds meant that competition on the high seas was substituted by a sailing version of `Snakes and Ladders' created by Dobbs Davis, with tacks and gybes replaced by a simple roll of the dice by competing Gold Cup skippers in the plush Lord Mark Kerr Room.

In the end Australia's Dean Barker came out on top, crossing the line -- or square in this case -- first to earn $3,000 for himself as well as a matching amount for the local charity, Bermuda Riding for the Disabled.

Second was Sweden's Magnus Holmberg, who donated $2,000 to The Diabetic Association, third was Ed Baird of the United States, who secured $1,100 for the Sunshine League, while Russell Coutts donated $900 to The Committee of 25.

All others received $600, including the SPCA (Andy Green), TB Cancer and Health (Dennis Conner), Bermuda Sailing Association (Peter Gilmour), PALS (Roger Mello), Agape House (Peter Holmberg) and Keep Bermuda Beautiful (Andy Horton).

Meanwhile, today sees real competition return to the harbour -- weather permitting -- with the quarter-final round of the Colorcraft Gold Cup set to take place. Eight matches are scheduled.

Mother Nature, as she has throughout the week, threatens to invade the party, but organisers were optimistic last night that racing would take place as planned.

"We're taking the weather one day at a time,'' said press officer Keith Taylor. "The forecast is for strong breezes the next two days, but we've proved that we can race with the boats under shortened sail by not using spinnakers and through reefing the mainsail.

"These things make the boats more manageable and we have that as a reference.'' All of the scheduled match-ups stand out as intriguing ones, with Magnus Holmberg set to take on America's Cup champion Coutts, while Baird faces off against Gilmour, Peter Holmberg seeks to end the run of qualifier James Spithill, and Chris Dickson looks to end the giant-killing run of Murray Jones.

James Spithill: The Australian qualifier could face his sternest test yet in today's Gold Cup quarter-finals when he meets in-form Peter Holmberg of the US Virgin Islands.