The King Edward VII Gold Cup hopes of Bermuda's Blythe Walker and Glenn Astwood remained intact in Hamilton harbour yesterday.

Sailing with an air of confidence well beyond their modest match racing rankings, in shifty light to moderate breezes, the local pair gave the home crowd plenty to cheer about as they finished day one with two wins and a solitary loss under their belts to keep their hopes of advancing to the quarter-finals alive.

Walker, who placed third in last year's prestigious regatta, defeated Group A rivals Eric Monnin of Switzerland and Portugal's Alvaro Marinho — but was denied the coveted hat-trick in losing to defending champion Ian Williams after incurring a costly penalty at the finish.

"We came from behind on a leeward run but then misinterpreted one of the umpire calls and got ourselves in a little trouble at the finish," Walker explained.

"I was trying to put the nail in the coffin and obviously that was a bad move looking back in hindsight.

"We lost the start and kept close the whole way around the track and then attacked on the final run. We managed to call him (Williams) on starboard and get the advantage on the final run. But the umpires gave us a penalty for sailing him past the finish line.

"When you are in pressure situations there's no room for learning or mistakes. You just have to pull it all together and try and make the right calls all of the time.

"I won't say that we sailed perfectly, but we sailed well enough to come out with a reasonable score.

"I was really impressed with the teamwork on the boat. Adam (Barboza), Somers (Kemp) and Carola (Cooper) all worked well together and helped to get us around the track pretty quickly."

Walker will now go head-to-head with Americas Cup winner Ed Baird, Kiwi Scott Dickinson and Gold Cup debutant Peter Wibroe when match racing in the International One Design (IOD) resumes today in the Island's capital with a berth in the last 16 still within reach.

"We are going to do our best and hopefully come out on top because we do have the skills and the footwork to put these guys to the test," the former Olympian added.

Compatriot Astwood made a successful return to Gold Cup racing, defeating Sweden's Bjorn Hansen and American Brian Angel in two evenly contested Group C flights. But the 52-year-old veteran was also to be denied what would have been an impeccable return to match racing in the annual sailing spectacle, following a three-year hiatus, when he lost to Italy's Paolo Cian in the second flight.

"We actually started better than we had expected - the boys (Blair Simmons, Eddie Bardgett and Stephen King) pulled it together and helped keep me focused," he said.

"It was a good day; everything was perfect and you couldn't ask for anything better." Astwood will now lock horns with Brazil's Daniel Glomb and English pair David Tabb and Robbie Allam in his remaining Group C flights.

Defending Gold Cup champion and current World Match Racing Tour leader Williams opened the defence of his title on solid footing with wins over Walker and Dickson. "It's been vintage Bermuda Gold Cup and a lovely day with wind and sun," he said. "And the course has been great for us because we got two wins today."

Americas Cup winner Baird was also flawless yesterday, winning all three of his Group A flights against Marinho, Wibroe and Monnin respectively.

"We are very happy to start this way because it's really easy to make errors out here in this tricky harbour," the American said.

"It's always a challenge to be the person people look at as one of the big scalps in the event. But I don't think we are the only ones in this situation, and it's just a great pleasure to be here."

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