Despite getting within touching distance of the Americas Cup earlier this year, skipper Chris Dickson believes he will be the underdog when he arrives in Bermuda for next week's Gold Cup.

New Zealander Dickson is one of eight seeded skippers taking part in the event but says he will have his work cut out for him despite his heroics in New Zealand earlier this year.

Dickson was summoned at the 11th hour to skipper Larry Ellison's Oracle BMW Racing boat in the Louis Vuitton Cup, the prelim to the Americas Cup proper. He managed to make it to the final only to lose out to the Swedes of Alinghi who went on to capture the title from Team New Zealand.

"I have done a lot of match racing in our Oracle BMW Racing Americas Cup boats this year but have not done any small boat circuit match racing for several years so in that respect I will be at a big disadvantage to most of the other teams participating," Dickson told The Royal Gazette yesterday.

"My last 12 months have been unexpectedly busy. One year ago I was watching the Americas Cup races as a benched spectator and then on 24 hours notice I was in the driving seat.

"Since then I have been part of the Oracle BMW Racing Team that won 11 straight races in Auckland, won our quarter-final and semi-final against One World in straight races and took more races off Alinghi in Auckland than any other team."

The success Down Under has been built on since with Dickson getting revenge over the Swedes in the US.

"We have moved forward to beat Alinghi in the Moet Cup in San Francisco and we are well progressed in our planning for the next Americas Cup," he said. "(We are just) waiting on timing and venue announcements like many other teams."

If he is to do well in Bermuda, Dickson, who won the event in 1987 and 1989 and was second in 2001, will have to stave off stiff competition from seven other world class skippers as well as those not seeded.

Dane Jesper Radich took the title last year and Dickson, who will crew with Gavin Brady, Sean Clarkson and one other, believes pundits should look no further than Radich, for the time being at least.

"Jesper has shown he is a deserving champion and, knowing Jesper a little, I am sure all the competitors recognise him as the favourite," he said. "(But) one of the great things about getting older is experience - maybe the only good thing! I have won the Gold Cup before, the boats are the same, the water and wind is the same. I have a great team with me and we know what it takes. It will come down to implementing the plan on the day."

Bermuda's Malcolm Smith had jumped into the lead at the Sunfish World Championships following yesterday's races.

The 44-year-old was fourth and third in yesterday's two races to have the low score of 18 points from five races as the competition hit the half-way stage in the Caribbean island of St. Maarten. The points standings of other competitors were unavailable at Press time.

"We had very light winds, maybe five to six knots. They were very testing conditions in the Sunfish with light air and some leftover chop and swells from the day before (Tuesday)," said Smith.

"The day went fairly good for me. I was fourth in the first race and third in the second race which was probably the low score of the day for the leaders because the other three sailors who were in front of me didn't have as consistent races as I had and they fell back a little bit - not a lot," added Smith, who had begun the day in fourth place out of 68 sailors.

Facing another four or five races - after today's rest day - Smith was cautiously optimistic about his chances of wresting the world title which he won in 1998.

"There's four sailors within five points of each other and we have half the racing to go through. I just hope my scores can stay consistent and keep me in front of the other sailors. I think there's a chance to win the Worlds again," he said, acknowledging that weather conditions tomorrow and Saturday would play a significant part in the outcome.

"I don't have any idea what the weather conditions are going to be like. I'm really happy with my boat's speed and the tactical part of the racing has gone really well. I've been sailing very good upwind and off-wind I'm not having a problem.

"We don't have a throw-out until we have nine races and currently, if I throw out a race, I have a two-point lead over the second-placed boat which is very small.

"It's still a couple days to go so I'm just going to relax a little bit tomorrow (today) and wait and see."

Others in strong contention for top honours at Divi Little Bay Resort are Cor van Aanholt, a former world champion (sometimes of Holland but currently residing in Curacao), Hank Suarage of the USA and Peruvian Diego Zimmerman.