A new champion will be crowned at the Argo Group Gold Cup next month, The Royal Gazette can reveal.

Taylor Canfield and USone Sailing Team will not return to defend their title because of conflicting commitments.

“With great regret I had to decline our invite to the Gold Cup this year due to a conflict in the schedule,” the American helmsman said.

Canfield won the King Edward VII Gold Cup for the second time in six years after beating past winner Johnie Berntsson, of Sweden, 3-1 in the first to three points final of last year’s $100,000 regatta in Hamilton Harbour.

Seven month’s after his first Gold Cup win since 2012, Canfield’s dream of competing for the America’s Cup became reality after the racing syndicate he cofounded was accepted as the fifth Challenger.

He is the co-founder and helmsman of Stars & Stripes Team USA, who are the second US challenger after American Magic and the first all-American team in more than 15 years to compete for the “Auld Mug”.

Stars & Stripes Team USA represent the Long Beach Yacht Club, who are renowned for the Congressional Cup, the premier match-racing event in the world outside the America’s Cup.

The racing syndicate’s name is a tribute to former American helmsman Dennis Connor, who won the America’s Cup four times between 1974 and 1987 to earn the title as “Mr America’s Cup”.

The next America’s Cup will be held in Auckland in 2021 and contested in 75-foot foiling monohulls.

Emirates Team New Zealand, representing the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron, is the Defender and Italy’s Luna Rossa the Challenger of Record.

The Argo Group Gold Cup will be held from May 6 to 11 and will feature former champions Francesco Bruni, of Luna Rossa, Torvar Mirsky, Ian Williams and Berntsson.

The fleet also includes three-times women’s match-racing world champion Lucy MacGregor, of England.

The Gold Cup is the oldest match-racing regatta for one-design yachts and was awarded as a match-racing trophy in 1937.

This year marks the 69th running of the event organised by the Royal Bermuda Yacht Club.