James Pleasance, executive director of the World Match Racing Tour, is hopeful the Argo Group Gold Cup will return to the match racing circuit next year.

The sailing spectacle was cancelled this year after discussions over the new WMRT format between hosts the Royal Bermuda Yacht Club, title sponsor Argo Group Limited and the WMRT ended without agreement.

The King Edward VII Gold Cup is the oldest match racing trophy in the world for competition involving one-design yachts while the RBYC is a founding member of the World Match Racing Association.

“It was a great shame to hear about the cancellation of the Gold Cup this year,” Pleasance told The Royal Gazette. “The event is one of the founding events of the World Match Racing Tour and has long been a favourite destination for the World Tour and sailors.

“After the Gold Cup’s title sponsor Argo Group decided not to sponsor the event this year, and despite our efforts to support the Royal Bermuda Yacht Club, the RBYC was unfortunately forced to cancel the event for this year. We hope they will be able to return the Gold Cup again next year.”

As it stands, each stage of the WMRT or World Championship events are being contested in the one-design M32 catamaran while the International One Design sloop has been the racing class for the Gold Cup since the late 1950s.

The high performance M32 made its first appearance in Bermuda during last year’s Gold Cup, while the island hosted the M32 Bermuda Series earlier this year.

“We were certainly looking forward to bringing the new M32 multihulls to the Gold Cup this year following the successful M32 Bermuda Series we ran from January to April,” Pleasance said.

Gold Cup organisers are scheduled to meet with sponsors Argo Group in the spring of 2017 to “plan for upcoming Argo Group Gold Cup regattas”, Andy Cox, the regatta chairman, said.

Adam Minoprio, helmsman of 35th America’s Cup Challenger Groupama Team France, won last year’s Gold Cup with his BlackMatch team-mates after besting Australian rival Keith Swinton and Black Swan Racing in the final.

Sir Russell Coutts, the Oracle Team USA CEO, won a record seven Gold Cups between 1990 and 2004.