Current International Sailing Federation (ISAF) World Match Racing Tour points leader and defending champion Ian Williams will be looking to make further inroads towards defending his title on local surf next month when Royal Bermuda Yacht Club (RBYC) hosts the King Edward VII Gold Cup in Hamilton Harbour.

With three races remaining in this year's World Match Racing series, the 31 -year old Englishman presently leads Frenchman Sebastion Col by 15 points and current Gold Cup champion Mathieu Richard - also of France - by 25 points.

The World Match Racing Tour is the leading professional sailing series featuring nine world championships events across the globe.

Lawyer Williams, who took a six-month sabbatical three-years ago to concentrate solely on match racing, is currently competing with Team Pindar in St.Moritz, Switzerland and will be gunning for a second Gold Cup in the Island's capital October 6-12.

Last week Williams and crew pocketed $32,000 for winning the Danish Open in Denmark after faultlessly sweeping aside Frenchman Col 3-0 in the finals. He later attributed his most recent success to the fine efforts of a well-oiled crew.

"The team were fast, they were smart . . . . we were right on the money. Now we need to carry the momentum to extend our lead at the top of the Tour leaderboard," commented Williams, who raised a maiden King Edward VII Gold Cup in 2006.

The Englishman is now keen to regain the coveted King Edward Gold Cup, competed for in the sleek International One Designs (IOD), after missing last year's event.

"The IODs are very different to anything else we sail on the Tour being such an old design," Williams told The Royal Gazette.

"But they certainly reward good sailing and I very much enjoy the challenge of trying to get the best out of them each year."

He added: "We always get a great reception from the Royal Bermuda Yacht Club and other Bermudians generally at the Gold Cup. Of course, we race against the same people throughout the year on the World Tour, but it is fun to race them (IOD) in the unique conditions we get in Bermuda."

Meanwhile, reigning Gold Cup champion Richard is also back to defend his title during the 101st year of sailing for the coveted showpiece on local waters along with Italy's Paolo Cian and last year's beaten finalist Bjorn Hansen of Sweden.

Richard is presently ranked number one in the ISAF 'Open' Match Race rankings followed by Williams in second, Cian in third and Hansen in fourth respectively.

Next month's King Edward VII Gold Cup will also feature three-time Olympic medalist Ben Ainslie of Team Origin along with Bermuda's own Blythe Walker, who won the Gold Cup Petite Final to finish third overall during the 2006 event.

Eric Monnin, also of Sweden, who will be competing in his fifth straight Gold Cup, is also back while past Rolex Yachtswoman of the Year Award recipient Sally Barkow is the sole female skipper competing in this year.

The King Edward VII Gold Cup is the eighth and penultimate stage of the annual World Match Racing Tour's World Championship schedule which brings world-class match racing to Hamilton Harbour.

The 24 invited crews including two winners of qualifying events will be divided into three groups of eight that will sail a round robin elimination series, with the eventual eight leading skippers progressing to the quarter and semi final stages.

n Veteran International One Design (IOD) skipper Penny Simmons will be gunning for a seventh IOD World Championship later this month in San Francisco, California.

Simmons, who will be joined onboard by crew Sacha Simmons, Steven King, D'Arcey Betschart and Matthew Cairney, is among those touted as having an outside chance of glory at the upcoming IOD World Championships.

The Bermudian won the prestigious event in San Francisco 23 years ago.