New Zealand's Phil Robertson and his Waka racing team defeated Keith Swinton's Black Swan Racing Team, Australia, in the inaugural Chicago Match last Sunday in Chicago.

Both of these young teams are among twenty-four heading for Bermuda October 6 on their quest for the Argo Group Gold Cup in the 102nd year of competition for match racing's most prestigious trophy, the King Edward VII Gold Cup.

They will sail against the world's best match race sailors. The field includes nine of the top eleven match race sailors in the world plus defending Argo Group Gold Cup champion Johnie Berntsson (SWE) and three other previous King Edward VII Gold Cup trophy winners, Mathieu Richard (FRA), Ian Williams (GBR) and three-time winner Peter Gilmour (AUS). The Argo Group Gold Cup has the most unique format on the World Match Racing Tour because it starts with twenty-four skippers instead of the usual eight or twelve teams.

As with the other nine events that comprise the tour, all of the teams holding 2009 World Match Racing "World Tour Cards" and other top ranked match racers on the tour and in ISAF rankings are invited.

Two slots are filled automatically by the winner of two qualifying events, the Bermuda National Matching Championship for the Bacardi Cup and the Knickerbocker Cup in New York.

The rest of the places are filled by up-and-coming teams from Bermuda and around the world.

International teams now include three from Australia, three from France, three from Great Britain, three from New Zealand, three from Sweden, three from the USA, two from Bermuda, and one each from Denmark, Portugal and Switzerland.

Sixteen teams will be eliminated in the first three days of racing leaving the top eight teams to battle for a finals slot and a shot at the $50,000 first place prize.

The second through eighth place teams divide the rest of the $100,000 purse.

The Royal Bermuda Yacht Club hosts the annual Bermuda National Championship Match Racing on Saturday.

The first race is scheduled for 9 a.m. in Hamilton Harbour, just off the RBYC marina.

Five teams sail a round-robin competition.

The skipper who has the greatest number of points shall be the Bermuda Sailing Association Bermuda National Match Racing Champion and put his or her name on the prestigious Bacardi Cup for 2009.