Hamilton Harbour.

Among the seeded skippers in October's showpiece event will be past winners Russell Coutts and Peter Gilmour, both of whom skipped last year's event to concentrate on their America's Cup campaigns.

New Zealand's world match racing champion Dean Barker has also confirmed he will be competing and Italy's Louis Vuitton Cup winner and unsuccessful America's Cup challenger Francesco de Angelis has been invited. Last year's winner, Britain's Andy Green, will return.

Last year, the absence of a host of top names meant the overall fleet was reduced from 24 to 15 -- ironically in the year that prize money went up by $15,000 to $75,000 after organisers secured a new title sponsor in Colorcraft.

The week-long event was brought forward from its usual October date to mid-September, to give America's Cup skippers a chance to take part. But that proved impractical for most of them, as sailing's premier event was held on the other side of the world, in New Zealand, in October, and they needed several weeks to prepare.

New Zealander Coutts won his fifth Gold Cup in 1998 and his presence will give the event a massive boost.

Australian Gilmour, two-time Gold Cup winner, former world match racing champion and America's Cup skipper, is equally highly regarded. He once called Bermuda "the Mecca of sailing'' and pledged to compete here if at all posible.

The final list of eight seeded skippers should be confirmed by mid-August. And local sailors will get their chance to compete against the giants of the sport.

"This is sailing's equivalent of an opportunity to play golf against Tiger Woods,'' said Commodore Somers Cooper of organisers the Royal Bermuda Yacht Club.

"Sixteen unseeded skippers will be invited to race in preliminary rounds, with the best eight going forward to race against eight seeded skippers in round one.'' The grade one event is one of a few in the world offering unranked skippers the chance to break into the match racing circuit.

Two of the unseeded skippers will be Bermudians, the top finishers in the national match racing championships for the Gosling's Black Seal Cup. And another will be the winner of the York Cup event, sailed in Toronto, Canada.

This year, the event, which will run from October 22 to 29, will mark the end of the Swedish Match Grand Prix Sailing Tour, which started in March in Auckland, New Zealand.