Bermuda sailor Blythe Walker faces yet another 'do or die' challenge this morning after defying the odds in Hamilton Harbour yesterday.

Walker and his all-Bermuda crew needed to win all three of their morning repechage races yesterday morning in order to advance to the quarter-finals of the Argo Group Gold Cup. And he did exactly that.

But with a field down to eight teams, Walker came up against the talented Frenchman Eric Monnin and lost both of his races before the day's competition ended.

Now he needs to win all three this morning in the best-of-five series to push through to the semi-finals.

However, he's already guaranteed a portion of the $100,000 overall prize-money which is awarded to the top eight

"It always feels great to come this far but we're not giving up yet and we are going for the win," Walker said.

"Monnin is sailing really well and he did do a better job calling the shifts. We have a break in that we can come back tomorrow (today) and hopefully win three races in a row. It's called doing it the hard way. "

In the only two races sailed so far in the quarter-finals, Walker was not able to overcome the unique ability Monnin had of picking all the correct wind shifts in a day when the wind was fluky.

They sailed two textbook matches with Monnin simply getting ahead at the start and protecting his lead the entire way around the course.

For team-mates and fellow Bermudians Adam Barboza, Somers Kempe and Will Thompson, getting as far as the quarter-finals has been a learning experience.

"We are learning from our mistakes and luckily Blythe is not inclined to panic," Barboza said. "We've been down 0-2 before and won three in a row. Right now, we need Bermudians to come out and root for us."

Kempe is a champion fitted dinghy sailor in the summer and noted that the Gold Cup teams were getting better and better every year.

"But we are very competitive and we have the skills to do it. Hamilton Harbour is very unpredictable, very shifty. We hope for better winds tomorrow because we don't like to leave it to the roll of the dice."

Bowman Thompson agreed. "Our learning curve is steep and we are seeing the reasons behind our errors. Monnin is very good but a win against him is do-able," he said.

In the final three matches of the repechage round earlier yesterday, Walker held his ground, winning two out of three races in the series against American Dave Perry, Australian Torvar Mirsky and New Zealand's Phil Robertson.

In the second match against up and coming Mirsky, Walker lost the lead when he made the classic match racing decision not to cover.

The adage in match racing is cover your opponent at all costs "except on Hamilton Harbour where the wind is so shifty you just have to go for the wind pressures sometimes. Sometimes it works, and sometimes it doesn't," Walker noted.

In the third and crucial race of the repechage, Walker dominated Robertson who caught up on the second upwind leg after Walker chose not to cover. It was neck and neck on the downwind leg to the finish line but Walker was able to gybe and get just ahead, taking the win by seconds.

"The important thing to remember is you can never count on a lead," Walker added. "The wind shifts are frequent and sometimes it is easier for the opponent to catch up from behind."