He didn?t quite exactly hit the jackpot. But Bermuda?s Blythe Walker was still all smiles at the Royal Bermuda Yacht Club yesterday after becoming the first Bermudian since Peter Bromby in 2002 to win the King Edward VII Gold Cup Petite Final.

The 38-year-old skipper defeated Switzerland?s Eric Monnin three to two in the best-of-five final series to finish in third place in the 58th edition of the prestigious regatta and pocket $5,000 in prize earnings.

?I?m feeling great . . . this is fantastic,? commented an elated Walker. ?We were two up in the beginning and we thought we could clean up 3-0 but luck didn?t go our way, we made a few mistakes and ended up going to five.

?My crew performed amazingly this week. Adam Barboza, Somers Kempe and Carola Cooper all did a fantastic job and got me around the course as quick as I needed to.?

On Saturday, Walker became only the second Bermudian to advance to the semis since the regatta?s format was reorganised in 1984, after defeating Finland?s Staffan Lindberg (3-2) during a quarter-final round which saw defending champ James Spithill eliminated.

?Staffan is a great competitor and obviously he came firing and we had some very close races. But we managed to beat him which was great and emotionally fantastic,? added Walker.

?We had a great morning, although we started off slow with a couple of penalties. But we pulled back and actually won that race which got our adrenaline pumping.

?But then we had a little trouble trying to get the boat to move fast and lost the next two races before coming back and winning the last two. We went to five races but we were still very happy to get through.?

However, Walker?s fortunes took a serious turn for the worse in the semis, where he was convincingly beaten (3-0) against France?s Mathieu Richard.

Englishman Ian Williams also defeated Switzerland?s Eric Monnin 3-0 to qualify for yesterday?s final which he ultimately won 3-1 over Richard.

?We went up against Richard in the semis, and I guess psychologically we were geared for the challenge having been the only ones to take a race off him in this regatta,? Walker said.

?But he was definitely sailing very well. We had an even start in the first race and he (Richard) managed to get the correct shifts and after that he managed to beat us on both starts which was a bit disappointing.

?But it was a great feeling to reach the semis and it took quite a while to sink in, actually. We had a lot of local support out which really helped lift our spirits and I?m just glad we were able to put on a decent performance.

?We have never made it to the semis before, and so we are pretty happy about that and also happy with our performances on the whole.?