Wednesday at the Colorcraft Gold Cup was one of high drama, where several match racing giants saw their dreams of championship glory sunk in the choppy waters of Hamilton Harbour.

World match racing champion Dean Barker, 1999 Gold Cup winner Andy Green and America's Cup supremo Dennis Conner all splashed out during a morning session that saw just one seeded skipper, Peter Holmberg, pass the first round test.

The most spectacular contest involved Green, who squandered a 2-0 lead against rising Australian prodigy James Spithill, eventually bowing out 3-2.

"My bogey-man James,'' Englishman Green would later mutter. "We should have just converted the third race.

"We were ahead and he had a penalty on him, but he came back at us and he came back well, so . ..'' Indeed the third race proved the turning point, as the Brit had the luxury of pinning an early penalty on Spithill and, just as the Aussie completed the penalty turn towards the top mark, was able to incur another on him.

However, Green's continued aggression backfired, with Spithill returning fire, unloading the foul and further exacting his wrath during a ferocious gybe duel to the finish.

Having seized momentum, Spithill carried it through to the end as Green self-destructed.

"We made it hard on ourselves by losing the first two, a lot of which was my fault,'' said Spithill, who will next face Holmberg. "I didn't get good starts, had to really push things at marks and pushed the guys into a few mistakes.

"But we were able to dig deep. This team of guys, we never give up and they really dug deep and we were able to claw our way back in.

"It's interesting because the last two grade one events we've done we've faced Andy in the semis and done exactly the same thing. It was one-all on New York and we came back and won the decider, and in Spain in the semi-final he won the first two again and we fought our way back again for three straight.

"So it'd be reasonable to say we like going it the hard way, but it's a top team of guys that never give up.'' Reflecting on the crucial third race Spithill explained the problem for him was to have started with the slow response of the boat, meaning that he could not complete the turn without fouling Green.

"We tried to do the penalty, but forgot about how slow the boats turn and we got one straight back,'' he said. "Then we got one back on him, it was just good, the guys didn't crack under pressure, kept their cool and it all came off.'' Green agreed that the situation was pressure packed.

"It got pretty fruity,'' said Green, ranked 23rd in the world. "We've had him in the last three weeks, the last three events we've done in New York, Spain and here...it's a shame.'' While not possessing as much drama, the match featuring Chris Dickson and Barker offered up much food for thought, most prepared by Dickson, who showed that his years away from the circuit have done little to blunt his sword.

Barker felt first hand its sharpness, as he was executed 3-1, thus losing out on the opportunity to overtake Team New Zealand team-mate Bertrand Pace for first place in the Swedish Match Grand Prix Sailing Tour.

Continued on page 15 Gold Cup Continued from page 13 Dickson ran through the first two races and, while Barker came back to win the third, but the Oracle Racing challenge helmsman closed the door in the fourth.

"We've been happy with the way we've been sailing the boat, and confident that if we did a good job we could win,'' said Dickson. "I haven't been serious match racing for over five years, so to come back and be up against the number one guy in the world straight off was a tough way to come back.

"But we went out, did what we know how to do and we made it.

"The first two races made it for us. To get two up means it's pretty tough for the other guy to come back.'' As for the much ballyhooed Conner, the venture to Bermuda proved a fruitless one, although one would never assume such based on his jovial demeanour even after falling 3-1 to Murray Jones.

Asked by a race official if anything on his boat had been broken the wondrously witty American responded: "Only my heart!'' Jones meanwhile expressed delight at beating the legendary sailor and looked to do more damage tomorrow, when Dickson stands as the adversary.

"We're just happy to get through,'' he said. "It's fun sailing against Dennis ... always a good opportunity. We'll have to sail smart (against Chris).'' Afternoon action was dominated by delays and breakdowns, as the wind picked up, however making successful passage through were Russell Coutts, who beat Andy Horton 3-0, Magnus Holmberg, a 3-0 winner over Cameron Appleton, Ed Baird, extinguisher of Dalton Bergan 3-1 and Peter Gilmour a 3-0 victor over Neville Wittey.