College kid Lance Fraser is about to be schooled in the art of match racing in one of the biggest classrooms there is the World Match Racing Tour (WMRT).And the Queen’s University freshman can barely wait for the lessons to begin when the Argo Group Gold Cup commences in Hamilton Harbour tomorrow.“With regard to match racing in particular there’s no better place to learn than this event,” said Fraser. “It’s the best opportunity to be able to sail against these guys and see how they race against each other in a professional setting.“It’s just an amazing learning environment and a really great opportunity for me and my entire team to learn and race against these guys.”The local youngster has been placed in Group Two that includes past Gold Cup winners Peter Gilmour and Johnie Berntsson as well as WMRT title contender Torvar Mirsky.“There’s some pretty impressive guys in our group but I wouldn’t say it’s any harder than the other two groups,” he said. “They are all extremely hard groups and no matter where we were placed we were going to be up against extremely good sailors who have been here and done well before.“We just have to go out there and be confident and I have confidence in my team and our team work.”Eighteen-year-old Fraser impressed on his Argo Group Gold Cup debut last year and intends to use the lessons learned to aid his cause this time around.“Any experience is good and to be able to have sailed in this event last year just gives me the knowledge of how it works and what the level of competition is and what I need to do be competitive to win races,” he said.Competing with the skipper this year are Tom Clarke (jib and spinnaker), Leatrice Roman (bow), Mike Menniger (main and tactics) and Mary Justine (floater).Even though Fraser is sailing on home water he said conditions in Hamilton Harbor can become challenging at times.“You got to love Hamilton Harbor because it can be a tough place to sail even if you know what’s going to happen,” he said. “It can be a hard place to sail with the shifts.“Depending on where the wind comes from you can have a shift and puff come in and there’s no way anyone could’ve predicted that happening so close to land. So knowing how that works will help us, but it’s not going to be a huge advantage.”Fraser primed himself for this year’s Gold Cup participating in match racing events in Chicago and California, sailing in the Governor’s Cup 21 and Tom Max 28 designs.He added: “We are really excited to be back in the Gold Cup. It’s a really good opportunity for me to sail against these guys in a boat I know.”As for the competition, Fraser noted: “I know these guys are the best in sailing and have much more experience and sailing knowledge than me.“But I’m excited to sail and try to do well against them. We have the opportunity to sail against these guys and we want to take advantage of it and see what happens from there.”