Several changes to the World Match Racing Tour were announced at last month’s World Match Racing Association Tour Promoter Conference in London.

During the two-day conference, attended by representatives from all but one tour event, it was revealed that the 2015 World Match Racing Tour will feature a new regatta and title sponsor, while the Chicago Match Cup has been replaced by the Congressional Cup.

Brian Billings, the World Match Racing Association president and past Royal Bermuda Yacht Club commodore, who also represented Bermuda at the conference, said: “We’ve got a new event which was represented at the conference which hasn’t been announced yet, so I can’t announce it because it hasn’t been announced by the Tour. But they were there and it will be happening this year, so that is pending notice.”

As for the Chicago Match Cup being replaced by the Congressional Cup in Long Beach, California, Billings said: “Chicago, which was a tour event for the last couple of years, is not going to be a tour event in 2015.

“But Congressional Cup, which is one of the founding members of the World Match Racing Association, are now joining the tour. This is going to be their first year as part of the tour, which is great news because we still have a North American event going on.”

It was also announced during the conference, which was held on January 16 and 17, that Alpari will be replaced as the tour’s title sponsor after three years.

It came at the same time as the British arm of the foreign exchange broker entering insolvency after several of its clients sustained heavy losses in the wake of the Swiss National Bank’s decision to end its capping of the Swiss franc against the euro.

“The business is gone, so they have gone into insolvency, which doesn’t change anything for the tour because their contract was ending this year anyway,” Billings said.

“The tour has been looking for a new title sponsor and there’s some good potential title sponsors in the works, but nothing firm at this juncture.”

Billings also revealed that two additional events could potentially be added to the tour schedule next year.

“One in Asia and one in Australia, so that’s all positive news,” he said.

“The tour is very much alive and well, and everybody is very enthusiastic about what’s happening.”

The RBYC, host of the Argo Group Gold Cup, the tour’s penultimate stage, is a founding member of the WMRA.