Bermuda's best youth sailors will challenge top juniors from around the world in local waters next week in the annual Renaissance Re Junior Gold Cup regatta.

The internationals, aged 13 to 15, were selected by national Optimist associations from 16 countries on five continents.

This year's races will be contested in the Great Sound and Hamilton Harbour, running alongside the King Edward VII Gold Cup which takes centre stage on Bermuda's sporting calendar next week.

The likes of Ian Barrows (13) from the US Virgin Islands, who placed second in the Junior Worlds and first in the Scotia Bank regatta and Lucia Falasca, winner of the Argentina National Championships last month, will be competing against Bermuda's Brian Bulhoes, who is the 2007 Bermuda national champion.

But the week will not be all about competition as the juniors will also get chance to meet up with some of their idols and gain valuable pointers as their careers begin to blossom.

World-renowned sailors and Americas Cup veterans such as Ed Baird, Torben Grael, Dennis Conner and Russell Coutts will be participating in youth sailing clinics, explaining the finer points of the sport and the value of sportsmanship.

Bermuda Optimist Dinghy Association (BODA) past president Ron Stan summed up the Junior Gold Cup, stating; "It's a fantastic opportunity for Bermudian and invited international sailors to compete against one another on the water, and after the racing, have the chance to meet with the best match racers in the world.

"The senior sailors are always happy to hold informal discussions with our Opti sailors about rules, racing tactics and their sailing experiences.

"Staying with the locals is a great cultural and life skills experience for all parties."

"We had five Japanese Opti sailors stay with us during another event, and I can tell you that we all learned a lot from that week," Stan added.

"This regatta kicks off our racing season here in Bermuda which involves various qualifying series for the International Optimist Dinghy Association (IODA) championships, such as the Worlds, North Americans, South Americans and Europeans."

The Cup involves four fleet races per day on the Great Sound starting on October 9. The final day, Sunday, October 12, will see sailing in Hamilton Harbour during the final rounds of the King Edward VII Gold Cup.