Mr. Lee, 71, who represented Bermuda at the 1976 Montreal Olympics and who has sailed in a number of Sunfish World Championships, said last night that he was "feeling much better".

Mr. Lee was believed to have suffered the mini stroke following sailing in extremely hot and difficult conditions on Wednesday.

"I hope to get out of here tomorrow (Friday) and perhaps I will be able to attend the prize-giving on Friday night ? if I could it would be the greatest thing in the world," Mr. Lee said yesterday from his bed at the East Cooper Hospital in Charleston.

Mr. Lee is the oldest sailor at the championships where his grandson Rockal Evans is also sailing, along with Bermuda's Sunfish king Malcolm Smith, who has three world titles to his name.

"They have been running lots of tests on me ? all night and all today and I have more to come," said Mr. Lee, who also saw a friend of his suffer a heart attack and die shortly after the start of racing on Tuesday.

David Thompson, a 55-year-old sailor from Maine, fell into the water just seconds after the starting gun, and floated face down. Almost immediately, fellow competitor Andres Cano-Alva of Peru jumped off his Sunfish and into the water to assist, as did a volunteer from one of the nearby judges' boats.

Mr. Thompson was eventually transferred to a US Coast Guard boat and sped to shore where he was met by a team of paramedics and taken to Cooper Hospital.

Unfortunately, the medical professionals were unable to resuscitate him. A brief memorial was held for him on Tuesday evening, and the competitors observed a moment of silence in his honour.

Mr. Lee said of his friend Thompson: "He is one of the guys I have known a long time in sailing. He was from Maine and a nice guy and we were good friends ? I met him in sailing from way back. It really hurt me to hear what happened to him ? he was such a nice guy on the water and off of it."

Mr. Lee said he felt ill sailing on Wednesday.

"I am feeling much better today. Before the race and during it I felt fatigued ? I was hot and tired. I didn't feel well at all. They have checked me all over and I feel better today but they are keeping me for another day.

"I raced four races ? I was hanging in pretty good but had some hard luck here and there because the wind was so light. I didn't get the chance to perform like I wanted to. I wanted to go back out today to compete but they wouldn't let me.

"There have been very light winds and I am used to more winds. The waiting around for so long and with it being very hot was not nice. I also should have had more to eat."

There was a two-and-a-half-hour wait for the sailors before racing on Wednesday because of the lack of wind.

Mr. Lee said the strong tides also made things tough on the course.

"There are a lot of strong tides out there ? never seen it like that in my experience. The main thing is that I was able to finish the race."

Mandana Sharifi of Mandana Entertainment, who is helping Mr. Lee and his grandson Evans in Charleston, was instrumental in rushing Mr. Lee to the hospital after Wednesday's racing.

She said: "I noticed he wasn't focusing and he wasn't walking properly. It was hot and they were sitting out in their boats in the middle of the ocean for a long time.

"It was hard to get food to him ? I tried to get him some pizza. He did have a banana and a club soda. When we brought him into the hospital they said he had had a mini stroke."

Mr. Lee added: "Doctors were asking me all kinds of questions."

The veteran sailor said: "What I am really happy about is that Rockal is doing so well for his age."

One of the reasons why Mr. Lee decided to attempt to sail in the Worlds at the age of 71 was that he wanted to support his teenage grandson Evans, who is competing in his first championships.

Evans sailed to Bermuda from Maine on the and had to rush up on Sunday to South Carolina in order to compete in the first race on Monday morning. The regatta leader is David Loring.