Reigning Argo Group Gold Cup champion Taylor Canfield has been granted a Tour Card to compete on the 2013 Alpari World Match Racing Tour.The US Virgin Islands sailor is among eight professional match racing skippers chosen to compete on this year’s Tour which officially gets underway with the Match Race Germany in Lake Constance in southern Germany in May.Canfield made his presence felt on the Tour last year after claiming a maiden King Edward VII Gold Cup at the third attempt following a resounding 3-0 win against past champion Johnie Berntsson (Switzerland) in Hamilton Harbor, losing only three matches en route to the coveted title. It was the skipper’s maiden Tour win which he followed up with another at the season ending Monsoon Cup in Malaysia.Canfield and his Chicago Match Race Centre teammates placed seventh on last year’s Tour after counting only three results towards the overall standings.The top match racing skipper is no stranger to Bermuda’s shores having first competed here as a youngster in the Renaissance Re Junior Gold Cup.Three of the eight professional skippers chosen to compete on the 2013 Alpari World Match Racing Tour are past Argo Group Gold Cup winners, the others being Berntsson and reigning World Match Racing Champion Ian Williams of England.Williams was triumphant here in 2006 while Berntsson became the first Swede to win the event in 2008.Lawyer Williams and GAC Team Pindar finished third in last year’s Argo Group Gold Cup after besting Erik Monnin (Switzerland) and Swiss Match Race 2-1 in the Petite Final.Remaining 2013 Alpari World Match Racing Tour Card Holders include Bjorn Hansen (Sweden), Adam Minoprio (New Zealand), Pierre-Antoine Morvan (France), Phil Robertson (New Zealand) and Keith Swinton (Australia).Swinton, Hansen, Minoprio and Robertson have all featured in the Gold Cup which will take place October 7-13 in Hamilton Harbor.The 2013 Alpari World Match Racing Tour will consist of seven stages with teams counting results of their best five events including their result at the season ending Monsoon Cup.