A day that promised much ended in despair for local skippers Blythe Walker and Lance Fraser who bowed out of the $100,000 Argo Group Gold Cup.Both men began their final group matches still in the hunt for a place in the quarter-finals but ultimately came up short of the line.Walker (5-4) and Renaissance Re team-mates Adam Barboza, Somers Kempe and Phil Worboys defeated Marek Stanczyk (Poland) but lost to David Chapman (Australia) in their final Group One matches.Walker and Chapman (5-4) completed the group stage with five points apiece. But the Aussie skipper claimed the fourth and final quarter-final qualifying spot over Walker via a head-to-head tiebreaker.“Unfortunately that was the race we needed to win, so that was a painful one to lose,” Walker said. “We knew going in to decide our own fate we had to win both of them and the odds weren’t good if we lost one because of the people we lost to who were actually at the top of the group.“On the whole I think we made our fair share of mistakes this week and when you look back, unfortunately they cost you in the end. But we had a good week and enjoy coming out.“We won more than we lost but unfortunately the tiebreaks didn’t go our way.”Also left to ponder what might have been was teenage skipper Fraser (4-5) and Digicel Match Racing team-mates Jesse Kirkland and Jason and Jordan Saints who lost their final Group Two matches against Jurjen Feitsma (Netherlands) and Henrique Haddad (Brazil).“We let the quarter-finals slip through our hands and have no-one but ourselves to blame,” Fraser lamented. “Nothing went our way.“We weren’t communicating well, sailing well or going in the right direction all the time. We were fighting the boat and race course, were not focused and made it difficult for ourselves.”Fraser and crew blew a golden opportunity to increase their points tally when they surrendered the lead at the top of the course on the final beat in their match with Stancyzk who held on for the win.“That’s one we really should’ve had and we threw it away and he took advantage of it,” Fraser said. “That one was really hard to swallow.”Taylor Canfield (US Virgin Islands) topped Group One with eight points to advance to the quarter-finals along with Finland’s Staffan Lindberg (7-2), England’s Ian Williams (6-3) and Chapman.Like Walker, reigning Alpari World Match Racing Tour champion and past Gold Cup winner Williams started the day with an overall 4-3 record but was able to reach the last eight after seeing off Canfield and William Tiller (New Zealand) in his final group matches.“We certainly upped our game today and it was important we did that because obviously we were touch and go for qualifying,” said Williams, the top seeded skipper in the regatta. “It was good that we could respond and hopefully we can continue to improve going into the quarter-finals.”Former Tour champion Adam Minoprio (New Zealand) topped Group Two with eight points to advance to the quarter-finals along with Johnie Berntsson (Sweden), Bjorn Hansen (Sweden) and Eric Monnin (Switzerland).Group One*Taylor Canfield (US Virgin Islands) 8pts*Staffan Lindberg (Finland) 7 pts*Ian Williams (England) 6 pts*David Chapman (Australia) 5 ptsBlythe Walker (Bermuda) 5 ptsStratis Andreadis (Greece) 4 ptsWilliam Tiller (New Zealand) 4 ptsMarek Stanczyk (Poland) 3 ptsPeter Wickwire (Canada) 3 ptsMagnus Sandberg (Canada) 0 ptsGroup Two*Adam Minoprio (New Zealand) 8 pts*Johnie Berntsson (Sweden) 6 pts*Bjorn Hansen (Sweden) 6 pts*Eric Monnin (Switzerland) 5 ptsSally Barkow (USA) 5 ptsHenrique Haddad (Brazil) 4 ptsNicolai Sehested (Denmark) 4 ptsLance Fraser (Bermuda) 4 ptsSergy Musikkin 3 ptsJurjen Feitsma (Netherlands) 0 pts* Qualified for quarter finals