Bachelor Andy Green may not know his way around the kitchen but he proved yesterday, in winning the 51st King Edward VII Gold Cup in Hamilton Harbour, that he's a young master in an international one design boat.

After a remarkable win that saw him complete a semi-final victory over top seed Markus Wieser and a final triumph over world number nine Magnus Holmberg, effervescent Londoner Green revealed that he had inadvertently mixed the salad for the previous night's dinner in an unwashed dog bowl.

Whatever scraps Fido had left must have gone down well with his crew, if not his Bermudian hosts, as he first saw off Germany's Wieser in an aggressive semi which went to a record seven races, and then Holmberg, of Sweden, in a best-of-five final which went down to the wire, finishing as the sun set over White's Island at five to seven.

Green, ranked only 32 on the world match race table before this week, explained afterwards: "Me and one of my crew are bachelors and our lady friends aren't with us this week. While the others were doing the barbecue outside I was left to do the salad and I found this lovely big silver bowl. It was only later I found out it was the dog's and it hadn't been cleaned.'' Almost 24 hours later, the 24-year-old proudly held aloft something equally shiny, but minus the Pedigree Chum -- the Gold Cup -- after a performance that surprised not only many onlookers but he and his crew themselves.

It also proved Chris Law's refrain of the week that the Coutts and Gilmours of the world were not greatly missed in a tournament that built up to perhaps the most exciting ever witnessed around these shores.

"We never came with the expectation of winning, so we shocked ourselves,'' said Green afterwards. "But it's been a three year campaign. We've been bubbling under the surface of a win like this. We got a second in a grade one event in New York a couple of weeks ago, so we've been threatening.

"It wasn't pretty, but boy was it exciting,'' he added. "We had some pretty major screaming matches on the boat and all sorts going on, but we pulled through in the end.

"It was a fantastic final, a fantastic semi-final. I don't think I've ever raced so many races in a day.

"It was ding dong all the way round. The semi-final was huge, the final went right to the wire. We were always backs to the wall but we always came through. We sailed fast today and we were pleased with that, particularly when it got to the final -- we just felt we had a little bit of extra boat speed.'' Green had taken a 2-0 lead over Holmberg, who beat Denmark's Jen Gram-Hansen 3-1 in his semi, but had done it the hard way, incurring penalties in both races. In the first, he got his 360 degree penalty turn in right at the finish as Holmberg bore down on him, and won by the slimmest of margins.

In the second, he won back his foul in pre-start manoeuvres when Holmberg later tacked too close, and forced his way home seven seconds ahead of his rival. Green's mistake early in the third flight and another error on the second downwind leg when the spinnaker was dropped into the water allowed Holmberg to get away to pull it back to 2-1 by 46 seconds.

Green lifts Gold Cup From Page 27 But there then followed a delay of well in excess of an hour as Green discovered the boom was bust when the crews changed boats for the next race.

It just served to heighten the tension as Green pulled up alongside the barge to have the mainsheet pulled down and a new boom attached. But a quick test found there was insufficient movement in the replacement and so it was back to the barge for further repairs.

When the fourth flight finally got underway, Green was always behind but twice closed the gap on the Swede sufficiently to have him worried before slipping to a 12-second defeat.

It was Holmberg's turn to commit an indiscretion in the decider and although the boats were neck and neck for much of it, the third seed always had to find a way to get his penalty turn in. Close to the finish, that became academic as another penalty was imposed on him and Green crossed the line for the victory.

Holmberg was gracious in defeat, saying: "I'd like to congratulate Andy and his team. It's really great to see a young team do so well. I think they have a great future, they sailed really well this week.'' The high drama on what were relatively high seas, whipped up by 20 knot puffs, perhaps forewarning of Hurricane Gert's presence in the region, was not confined to the final, however.

Earlier, in the morning, both sets of semis had to be completed after Saturday's activity was delayed until mid-afternoon as a frustrated race committee observed a barely perceptible breeze swing to all points of the compass.

Wieser and Green were level at a race apiece. But Wieser was docked half a point as a confrontation in the starting arena in the second grew too gladiatorial in nature and the German took out some of Green's rigging.

Yesterday, Green returned the compliment in the fourth flight, was subsequently also docked a half point to leave both competitors on one and a half points rather than two. With each victory meriting a point and the overall winner needing three points to advance, this ensured a prolonged battle that could only be decided after an unprecedented seven flights.

Chief umpire John Doerr explained that the deductions were a punishment designed to prevent overly aggressive movements in the boats, which are all borrowed for the event.

Wieser ultimately secured third place with a 2-1 victory over Gram-Hansen in the petite finals, while the play-offs for the other places saw Chris Law take fifth, Bjorn Hansen sixth, Marten Hedlund seventh and Andrew Horton eighth.

Earlier in the year, Green was awarded a grant from Britain's National Lottery funds. Yesterday he showed he was worthy of the award and took away a cool $20,000 to further his burgeoning career.

Green fingers: Andy Green and his crew prepare for action during the semi-finals of the Gold Cup yesterday. Green beat top seed Markus Wieser in an unprecedented seven flight semi before defeating third seed Magnus Holmberg to win the tournament.

Mode of a tack: Andy Green and his crew give chase to Markus Wieser in an exciting Gold Cup semi-final battle yesterday.