The Royal Southern Yacht Club in Hamble has entered a team for the Admiral's Cup in Cowes in July.

The club announced this week that the team will consist of Team Tonic, a Farr 52 owned by Nick Hewson and skippered by Jeremy Robinson, and an as-yet-un-named Sinergia 40 being built for Nigel Biggs.

Team Tonic was the most successful yacht to race in the Solent during 2002 while the Sinergia 40 design took the first four places in the IMS 600 championship in Spain last year.

RSYC Commodore Colin Hall said, "When RORC (Royal Ocean Racing Club) announced the change to club teams last year, Tony Lovell and I thought that it was the kind of event that we should be associated with. We have members who are some of the best sailors in the world and they must be strong contenders."

France have also entered a team for the 2003 event. The UNCL team will be led be Gery Trentesaux, the captain of last year's victorious French Rolex Commodores' Cup team.

With the event now only some seven months away, there is increasing interest to enter a team.

"It is critical to the new-format Admiral's Cup that we attract a high quality entry - quality is definitely more important that quantity," said Chris Little, new commodore of RORC.

"Like any event of this nature there is an element of the snowball effect in team generation, but now with the French joining the fray, I think we are now beginning to see the snowball starting to roll. What is clear is that there is genuine support from sailors around the world to see the new-format Admiral's Cup succeed

Janet Grosvenor, RORC racing manager, added: "We now have three confirmed entries. In addition to the French UNCL team we have entries from the Royal Prince Alfred Yacht Club in Sydney and a RORC team led by GBR Challenge's Peter Harrison. There are also firm intentions from a Spanish team."

The Admiral's Cup, which will take place in Cowes from July 10-23, 2003, will include the Wolf Rock Race as the long offshore race.