The nearly 40-year wait for a local Argo Group Gold Cup champion will go on for at least another 12 months after Somers Kempe and Lance Fraser were eliminated yesterday.

Starting the day with their hopes of advancing to the quarter-finals hanging by a thread, the local pair made a fist of it but ultimately came up short.

Fraser and Team Digicel Business coped best, chalking up victories in their group one matches against Marek Stanczyk, of Poland, and Eric Monnin, of Switzerland, before costly mistakes against New Zealand’s Phil Robertson and Australia’s Nathan Outteridge put paid to any hopes of reaching the last eight.

“Unfortunately, we had a shocker yesterday and needed to be perfect today and we weren’t,” Fraser said.

“I’m happy with how we are sailing which shows that we can compete. But unfortunately we didn’t put together a full week of great sailing and we’re done.

“We started the day well. The breeze was up and we felt really fast in the boats.

“We were sailing pretty smart around the course and had penalties on our opponents in both the first and second races, which made it easier to defend.

“I don’t think we were sailing any worse in the last two races, but the wind came down and the matches started getting tighter and one tactical decision decided the race. We really had tight races against Phil and Nathan and unfortunately lost both of them.”

Fraser will face Frenchman Mathieu Richard, who is a past Gold Cup winner, in his final group match today.

In contrast, Kempe and Team Raymarine/Ocean Electronics never got going, losing all of their Group two matches against Italian Francesco Bruni, the defending champion, Dirk-Jan Korpershoek, of the Netherlands, Frenchman Pierre-Antoine Morvan and former Gold Cup winners Ian Williams, of England, and Sweden’s Johnie Berntsson.

“It was frustrating and I wasn’t 100 per cent well,” Kempe said. “But that’s not an excuse, the guys did a good job trying to get the boat rolling.

“I just felt we were slow all day and always starting behind the opposition at the start, which on a light air day is no good because you are always second to the puffs.

“We were able to drag ourselves back into the last race of the day and there was a glimmer of hope at the end of the tunnel.

“But we didn’t really execute one of our manoeuvres very well so we ended sliding behind again.”

Kempe will take on David Storrs, of United States, in his final group match today.

The battle for the Alpari World Match Racing Tour championship continues to heat up with Tour points leader Williams and nearest rival Taylor Canfield, the 2013 world match-racing champion, already through to the last eight.

Williams and Team GAC Pindar, who have yet to be beaten, top group one with 7½ points while Canfield and US One Sailing lead group two with seven points.

The race for the remaining quarter-final places in both groups remains wide open with several teams still in the hunt.

Among those on the brink of elimination is Bruni and Luna Rossa Challenge, one of two America’s Cup challengers competing in this year’s Gold Cup.

“It’s not looking good,” Bruni said. “We lost too many matches we were leading and it’s a big disappointment because if you are leading you should be able to consolidate your point.”

Yesterday’s racing did not go without incident as a member of Stanczyk’s team required treatment for a nasty gash to the head after being struck by the boom while executing a penalty turn against Canfield.

n Bermuda’s Adam Larson made a solid start to the RenaissanceRe Junior Gold Cup yesterday.

Larson sits in second place behind Christian Spodsberg, of Denmark, with Finland’s Mainio Ormio in third.

“There was nice wind and I was very pleased with the way I sailed,” Larson said.

The race committee was able to get in only two races after heavy rain delayed the start of the regatta.

Results, page 26