Professional sailing comes to San Francisco Bay when the Allianz Cup, the only U.S. event of the World Match Racing Tour, visits the St. Francis Yacht Club.

Stage 5 of the 2006-’07 world championship season, the match-racing regatta is scheduled Oct. 24-29. The addition of the Allianz Cup increases the number of stages to 15 in 10 countries on the 2006-’07 World Tour schedule.

The lineup features 16 teams, many representing Cup syndicates, and will be sailed in J/105 one-design yachts (35 feet long). .

Heading the lineup is New Zealander Chris Dickson, skipper and CEO of the San Francisco-based BMW Oracle Racing team, the Challenger of Record for next year’s 32nd America’s Cup. Dickson is ranked 3rd in the World Championship standings after winning in July his first stage of the World Tour, the season-opening Portugal Match Cup.

Other confirmed entrants include Ed Baird and Peter Holmberg, two of the helmsmen for Alinghi, the defense syndicate for the America’s Cup. Baird, of the U.S., is tied for 5th in the world championship standings and Holmberg, from the U.S. Virgin Islands, is a past Tour champion (2001-’02).

The current leader of the world championship, Frenchman Sébastian Col, is also entered. The helmsman for France’s Areva Challenge won Stage 2, the Danish Open, in August.