Blythe Walker and Adam Barboza will join Peter Bromby as Bermuda's representatives in the King Edward VII Gold Cup.

The two earned the right to compete in the prestigious regatta later this month after claiming the top two spots in the Bacardi Cup held in Hamilton Harbour over the weekend.

Walker prevailed over Barboza in yesterday's best-of-five final, winning 3-1 after losing the first race of the finale.

“We learned our lessons yesterday (Saturday) and, having made quite a few mistakes we decided to correct the problem. We came together as a team and sailed well today (yesterday).

“I think the slightly lighter winds helped us. Yesterday, we were still in learning mode - having come from the IOD Class, the J-24s are a little different. These things are like dinghies when it blows,” said Walker, referring to the fact that the competition could not be raced in IODs because the fleet was damaged by Hurricane Fabian.

“We tried to sail a clean game and we were successful. We didn't get any penalties today.”

The 35-year-old was not perturbed by dropping the first race of the final to Barboza, noting it was an error on his part which gave his opponent the advantage.

“We were leading that race and made a silly mistake and let Adam get by us. So we just chalked that one up to ‘We lost that one, he didn't beat us. Let's go after the next one'.

“And it worked out well, we won the next two and (in) the last one we lost the start but managed to claw our way back with a few smooth moves and some good wind shifts,” said Walker who celebrated with his crew of Lars Simmons, Craig Davis and Paul Fisher.

Barboza, the runner-up for the second successive year, noted conditions were “very shifty” and that he was not lucky on the day. That, plus the fact that Walker “sailed a bunch of good races” doomed him and his crew of Somers Cooper, Garry Roman and Stephen King to defeat.

Looking ahead to the Gold Cup, he said it augured well that the Island would be represented by three good skippers though the task ahead was extremely tough.

“This year the unseeded skippers are a pretty amazing list of people. When the world champion is an unseeded skipper it says something about the event. We're going to try our best and, hopefully, we will get a little lucky,” said 35-year-old Barboza.

Quipping that he better go talk to his boss “to get some time off”, Walker agreed the Gold Cup line-up was “a little daunting” but added that he was looking forward to it.

Walker and Barboza advanced to yesterday's Barcardi Cup showdown with semi-final victories over Pete Ramsdale (3-0) and Ricki Hornett (3-1) respectively.

In the best-of-three consolation, Hornett beat Ramsdale 2-0 to place third. Mike Lewis and Richard Neame also competed in the regatta's preliminary stage on Saturday.