the King Edward VII Gold Cup in Hamilton Harbour, Coutts was a four-time winner defending his 1996 crown and Brady a mere pretender, relatively new to the match-racing circuit.

New Zealander Coutts came out of that on the strength of a broken main sheet which afflicted his 24-year-old rival in the second of the five flight contest to win 3-2, before advancing to a repeat final against Aussie Peter Gilmour.

But he admitted afterwards: "Their day will come.'' That day may now be not too far away.

A little more than 12 months on, a glance at the latest rankings tells quite a different story.

Kiwi Brady lies fourth on the list, while Coutts, who started the year in second place, has dropped to sixth.

Coutts' position may be explained to a large extent by his absence from the circuit, but he still performed well enough to finish second in the Cottonfield Cup in May.

Brady, meanwhile, has come on leaps and bounds since taking part in his first grade one event two years ago. He's won three grade two events in the last year and reached the finals of the Royal Lymington Cup -- results that have done enough to earn him his first invitation to the Match Racing World Championships in Hayama, Japan, two weeks after the Gold Cup.

In fact, six of the eight seeded skippers for this year's Gold Cup will be in Japan to battle for the world title from November 7-15 -- an indication not only of the quality of the Bermuda event, but the prestige it carries as well.

Gilmour -- who reversed his defeat by Coutts in the 1996 event -- is back to defend his title. He is a two-time world titleholder and currently the top-ranked sailor on the circuit, winning the last three grade one events he has entered -- the Cottonfield Cup, the Swedish Match Cup and the CIGNA Knickerbocker Cup.

Englishman Chris Law, winner of the Royal Lymington Cup and finalist in the CIGNA competition, has steadily climbed the rankings this year to occupy second place, while Peter Holmberg, of the US Virgin Islands, returns to Bermuda as the third-ranked skipper in the world.

Also seeded for the Gold Cup are Markus Weiser, of Germany, ranked eight in the world, Australian Neville Wittey and New Zealander John Cutler.

Among the 16 non-seeded skippers who will contest two groups of round robin races on the first two days of the tournament are Paul Cayard, winner of the Whitbread and skipper of the AmericaOne America's Cup Challenge, Italian Francesco de Angelis, James Spithill of Australia, and three Britons, Andy Beadsworth, Andy Green and Ian Williams, all ranked in the 30s.

Two other sailors from Team New Zealand apart from Coutts will be heading teams: Dean Barker, ranked 39 in the world, and Murray Jones, who took home $4,800 for finishing fourth in last year's competition.

The other non-seeded skippers are Bermudians Peter Bromby, Glenn Astwood and the new women's world number one Paula Lewin, Sweden's Marten Hedlund, Peter Hall of Canada and David Whelan, Glen Foster and Bill Buckles, from the US.

Lewin, who will sail with an all-female crew for the first time, and Astwood will represent Team Black Seal.

Prize money for the competition, which will be sailed in 33-foot International One Design boats, will total $60,000.

Round robin racing begins this Sunday with the championship rounds scheduled to start the following Wednesday.

The seeded skippers will get their first taste of action in Bermuda waters next Tuesday in the $5,000 Bermuda Commercial Bank Challenge.