events in the Brut Sailing Series.

Should Coutts win the $100,000 match race sailing tournament beginning October 6, he will have won more events in a single year than any other sailor.

The Kiwi has already won the most prize money ever in the sport of match race sailing by winning the Brut Cups of Royal Lymington, San Francisco, France and New York.

But Coutts' historic quest will not be easy. The field for the 1996 Brut Gold Cup includes seven of the top-ranked skippers on the Omega World Match Race Sailing list.

As well, the event features the largest field -- 24 teams -- of any match racing event in the world. And with $30,000 going to the winner, in addition to bonus points that translate into cash and ranking points that could mean invitations to future regattas, there is plenty of incentive for all the competitors.

Last year's winner and currently ranked number three in the world, Australia Peter Gilmour, returns for this 48th edition of the oldest match racing regatta in North America.

Other highly-ranked skippers include: Ed Baird (ranked number two, USA), Chris Law (eighth, Breat Britain), Thierry Peponnet (ninth, France), Peter Holmberg (10th, ISV), Markus Wieser (11th, Germany), Jochen Schumann (16th, Germany), Henrik Lundberg (19th, Finland) and Per Petterson (29th, Sweden).

Bermuda will be represented by Glenn Astwood and Peter Bromby.

The format for the Brut Gold Cup of Bermuda calls for 16 unseeded teams (each paying an entry fee) to compete on Sunday and Monday, October 6 and 7, in round robin qualifying races. The top eight teams will qualify for entry into the championship, tennis tournament-style elimination.

The eight qualified entrants are then paired against the eight seeded, invited skippers who have received a bye into round one of the championship. Each pair races a best-of-five match in the round of 16, quarter-final and semi-final rounds.

The final, scheduled for Sunday, October 13, are also a best of five series.

This year's event also features two all-female teams. Making her second appearance in the Brut Gold cup is Helena Strang from Sweden. American Hannah Swett gained entry as the winner of this year's Women's International Match Racing Championship.

Two other events during Gold Cup week in Hamilton Harbour include the Bermuda Commercial Bank Challenge and the Bank of Butterfield Charity Regatta.

The former, on October 8, will pit the eight seeded skippers against each other for a $5,000 purse. The latter sees representatives from several Bermuda charities race with selected professional skippers with proceeds going to the charities.

All races are run on a windward-leeward course and racing is conducted in identicla International One Design sloops of approximately 33 feet.