Bermuda's Blythe Walker staged one of the most dramatic comebacks in recent King Edward VII Gold Cup history in Hamilton harbour yesterday.

Trailing 0-2 to American rival Brian Angel, and staring directly down the barrel of elimination, the 39-year-old skipper miraculously reeled off three successive victories in wet and notoriously shifty conditions to advance to the today's semi-finals.

"I wouldn't say we did it the easy way, but we had to get our game together knowing that we were two races down. It wasn't easy but we managed to pull it off," the affable Walker stated.

"We just had to regroup and figure out where we were making mistakes and then eliminate them. We had confidence knowing we could sail around the course just as fast as Brian (Angel), and so our goal was to really come out clean with all guns firing."

A disputed penalty gave Angel the start he was looking for. And after going up 2-0 things really looked promising for the American.

But then the bottom fell out, with the pendulum swinging in Walker's favour for the remainder of the series.

"We had some momentum going, but the last couple of races, we let it slip through our fingers," a humbled Angel lamented.

Walker, who topped Group A in the robin phase and defeated Americas Cup winner Ed Baird en route earlier in the week, will now tangle with the world's fifth ranked match racing skipper Bjorn Hansen of Sweden today in the semis, brimming with "tempered" confidence.

"Hopefully we don't have to come from 0-2 down," Bermuda's Gold Cup hopeful smiled. "We are looking forward to racing Bjorn Hansen tomorrow (today). I know he's an aggressive sailor and pretty fierce. But I feel we can give him a run for his money."

Swede Hansen ousted compatriot Johnie Berntsson (3-1) in the quarter-finals to book a date with the soft-spoken Walker — son of legendary International One Design (IOD) skipper Jordy Walker.

The Island's other Gold Cup campaigner Glenn Astwood, however, was not as fortunate yesterday, as his fairytale return to match racing ended in a 0-3 drubbing at the expense of Frenchman Mathieu Richard.

Astwood reached the last eight keen to stretch his superb run in the regatta, but in Richard, last year's Gold Cup runner up, ranked number two in the world of match racing, the Bermudian encountered a formidable opponent.

"I just think his boat handling was a lot better than ours," the 2007 Bermuda National Match Racing champion conceded. "He just managed a lot better than we did.

"But we still did a lot better then we had expected. We have been fortunate to get as far as we did because there are a lot of better names than us who didn't get this far. So we are happy."

With five Gold Cup appearances under his belt, Richard was cautious not take the challenge of Astwood lightly.

"The local guys are never easy to sail against, because they know the boat and have very good speed. So we knew we would have to have good starts if we were to win this quarter-final series — and we did," the Frenchman said.

Richard will now face Americas Cup winner Baird, who defeated Italy's Paolo Cian (3-0) in the quarter-finals, in today's second semi-final.

"I have sailed many times against Ed (Baird) and sometimes we have beaten him," the 2006 Nations Cup winner noted. "It will be tough, and we will have to produce our best match racing."

Earlier, defending champion Ian Williams was eliminated in the repechage, thus ensuring a new Gold Cup champion will be crowned at the Royal Bermuda Yacht Club (RBYC) tomorrow.

Walker wasn't Bermuda's only success story in the Gold Cup yesterday as teenaged countryman James Anfossi (21 points) also impressed during an otherwise wet and miserable day on the surf.

Anfossi currently shares pole position in the hunt for the Renaissance Junior Gold Cup after eight races of the 13-race series, which culminates with the final tomorrow in Hamilton harbour.

Anfossi posted two bullets in the Great Sound to remain tied at the summit with Denmark's Jes Bohnde (21).

Bermudian Ryan Bulhouse (37 points) currently sits in third, with Sweden's Jesper Gunneling (38) not far off the pace in fourth.

There are currently 22 skippers from Portugal, Switzerland and New Zealand, to name a few, competing in the Junior Gold Cup, with the top four at the conclusion of of the round robin phase scheduled to lock horns in the semis.