Bermuda's King Edward VII Gold Cup hopeful Blythe Walker (5-1) stole the thunder in Hamilton harbour yesterday, brushing aside the challenge of Americas Cup winner Ed Baird (5-1) to clinch a famous victory and advance through to the quarter-finals of the prestigious regatta for the second straight year.

Walker's Royal Bermuda Yacht Club (RBYC) stablemate Glenn Astwood (5-1) also advanced through to today's quarter-finals after defeating Englishman David Tabb (1-5) in his final Group C flight.

Former Olympian Walker overcame an inauspicious start to stop the previously unbeaten Baird dead in his tracks.

"We went out there knowing that anything is possible if we are on top of our game. We made a mistake in the pre-start and received a penalty on a risky move, which he (Baird) capitalised on," he said.

"But we kept our head in the game and pushed hard on the start line to get to weather and he made a mistake by just being a second early across the line.

"This gave us the opportunity we needed to get the lead and we managed to stretch it out on the last windward leg enough to actually complete our penalty."

Baird took full responsibility for making a costly error that enabled Walker to grasp the upper hand. "I made an error at the start and stuck the nose of the boat over the line too early. It was unforced error. It was the first time I have sailed in this much breeze in these boats in five years and the momentum was a bit stronger than I anticipated and we just got to the line a bit earlier then I had expected," the American skipper said.

"We got back close with Blythe but they got a special breeze and sailed away from us and got plenty of room to do their penalty and win the race."

Yesterday's inspiring win would have done Walker's confidence the world of good. But the 39-year-old Bermudian skipper is determined to keep his ego in check — and his feet planted firmly on the ground.

"It's a big win, but tempered by the fact it is still early in the regatta. It's given us a bit of confidence, although we know we still have a bit of work to do. We are still making mistakes we shouldn't be and hopefully we can smooth things out going into the quarter-finals," Walker said.

Baird bounced back in his final flight, beating New Zealander Scott Dickson (2-4) to finish tied with Walker atop Group A and claim the remaining automatic quarter-final berth. Making it a truly memorable day for Bermudian sailors was Astwood's own success story in Group C that unravelled after the 52-year-old skipper overcame a few "goose bumps" before the race.

"I was a bit nervous because the guy who hasn't won a race always wants to try and win one and I guess we were in his (Tabb) radar screen," he said. "He gave a us a really good race but we were able to hold him at bay and get the win.

"We were way ahead and the breeze died down on us and he carried the wind from behind and was able to get close.

"He did close the gap up quite a lot, but in the end we were maybe two or three boat lengths ahead of him. So we took our fate in our own hands and did what we had to do to secure." Astwood is competing in this week's Gold Cup after a three-year hiatus from match racing in what is largely considered to be the Mecca of all local regattas. "I said before, we came here for fun with no expectations at all. But now I guess we will have to take it seriously," he smiled.

Meanwhile, Italian Paolo Cian (5-1) topped Group C to progress along with Astwood to the last eight, while Swede Johnie Bermtsson (4-2) won Group B to advance to the quarter-finals along with second-placed finisher Mathieu Richard of France who had an identical 4-2 record.

Sweden's Bjorn Hansen, Portugal's Alvaro Marinho, American Brian Angel, England's Ian Williams, Finland's Staffan Lindberg and Swede Magnus Holmberg are all currently locked in a battle to decide the seventh and eighth quarter-final spots in the round robin repechage series that will resume today.