chief organiser Scott MacLeod said yesterday.

However, thanks to Margent Aviation Reinsurance Group, which recently agreed to become a presenting sponsor, organisers will once again bring the world's top professional sailors to Hamilton Harbour for a week of racing.

"For this year we probably won't have a major sponsor,'' MacLeod conceded yesterday from his base in Stanford, Connecticut.

"We still have our fingers crossed that something may happen this year, however with the sponsorship that we've received locally, we've been able to pull together a first-class international event.'' MacLeod revealed that prize money has dropped 40 per cent from $100,000 to $60,000 because of the absence of a title sponsor. Brut's involvement with the event ended last year.

"What happened with Brut is they just had a change in their budget and marketing strategy,'' MacLeod explained.

Even without a title sponsor and less prize money, sailors such as defending champion Russell Coutts, currently ranked number one in the world, have confirmed their participation.

In fact, eight of the top 18 ranked skippers in the world have been named as seeded skippers for the event. Australian Peter Gilmour, the 1995 Gold Cup champion, will be ranked number two and brings his title of 1997 world champion of match race sailing to the Island. Also coming is number three Ed Baird, Magnus Holmberg of Sweden, Jachen Schuman of Switzerland and Andy Beadsworth of Britain.

Nearly all of the seeded skippers and many of the round robin entrants are involved in America's Cup campaigns. Coutts will skipper the defending New Zealand team in the America's Cup in 2000.

According to MacLeod, Coutts loves Bermuda so much that both the Island and the Gold Cup were heavily portrayed in his book on winning the America's Cup, due out this year.

"The quality hasn't gone down because all of the international teams are still coming,'' said MacLeod "With the sailors of the top teams it's not just a money issue.

"It's really great to see that with just local sponsorship we've been able to keep the event at the highest level. As long as we have the support of the secondary sponsors I think we can continue the event.

"But we want to keep it at the high event that it has always been and we need a title sponsor to do that.'' Organisers will continue to search for a company that is prepared to commit to a four-year, $300,000 deal.

"We're really looking for someone who wants to be a long-term partner and build the event with us,'' said MacLeod. "We don't want to change the name every year, we want to keep the status of it at the highest level.

"The naming rights of the Gold Cup has a tremendous amount of value, especially with the international television coverage and media coverage that the event gets. The event will be picked up in Japan, New Zealand, heavily in England, so there is a lot of coverage around the world.'' Margent Aviation is a subsidiary of the Margent Group, a privately-held aviation and marine reinsurance management company based in New York. It was established on the Island in March to complement the Group's other offices in New York and London.

"As a regular visitor to Bermuda during the last 20 years, I'd heard a lot about the Gold Cup,'' said company president David Kinloch, a native of Scotland. "It is an important part of the country's sporting history and we are very impressed by its tradition and international composition.

"This year's sponsorship opportunity enables us to announce our arrival here and to make the international insurance markets aware that we're open for business. We see the Gold Cup as the pinnacle of professional sailing and Bermuda as the centre for reinsurance. Combining the two is just good business.'' In addition to their involvement with the Bermuda Gold Cup, Margent is also sponsoring the new Gold Cup Sponsors Pro-Am Regatta which will be contested on the Thursday afternoon during the week of racing.

Other secondary sponsors include Renaissance Reinsurance, the Department of Tourism, Newstead, Waterloo House and Gosling Brothers.

The format for the Gold Cup calls for 16 unseeded teams, each paying an entry fee, to compete on October 5 and 6 in round robin qualifying races.

The top eight teams move into the championship round where they are paired against the eight invited skippers.