At Godby's 25-metre Idrottcentre facility, some 12 kilometres north of Aland's only town, Mariehamn, it was an unlikely team from the Faroe Islands who grabbed the limelight with a slew of medals.

But the teenaged Bermuda swimmers showed that it might be they who make the same impression at the next Games in two years' time.

In the final event of the night, the 4x50 metres Individual Medley, Ashley Yearwood (backstroke), Morgan Hopkins (breaststroke), Nicole Yearwood (butterfly) and Rebecca Heyliger (freestyle) slashed an incredible three and a half seconds off the national record.

But their time of two minutes, 3.85 seconds left them just 0.14 seconds behind bronze medallists Guernsey (2:03.71). Gold medallists Faroe Islands smashed the Games record in 1:58.86.

Earlier in the evening, Nathan Frick placed fifth in the final of the 100m butterfly, clocking 59.38 and improving on his heat time of 1:00.14.

And Nicole Yearwood was did much the same, finishing sixth in the final of the 100m backstroke in 1:08.19, bettering her heat time by almost a second.

It was performances such as those that left coach, Richard Goodwin, beaming with pride.

"Some people might think that last relay was a heartbreaker, but for me . . . I just can't wait for the next time they get in the water," said Goodwin.

"We chopped three-and-a-half seconds off the time we posted this morning and those girls went out there and gave the best effort they possibly could. I'm so pleased."

Although the swim team have so far collected just one medal – a bronze in Monday's 4x50m freestyle relay – Goodwin views the meet as one of the most important in Bermuda's swim programme.

"We've had a lot of personal bests this week and a total of three age group records, and national relay records last night and tonight. I'm looking forward to the rest of the week.

"This has always been a development meet for us, where we bring the young girls and boys through and hope that they excel in years to come. From the team that went to Rhodes two years' ago, three of them have graduated to earn a place in the World Championships. I'm very pleased with the performances so far and we're only half way through the meet."

While Frick, the Yearwood sisters and the relay team all reached the evening finals, they also competed in separate events in the morning heats.

Hopkins was the 12th fastest in qualifying for the 200 metres breaststroke, clocking 2:55.78, and placed 11th in the 200 metres Individual Medley in 2:39.15, just behind Nicole Yearwood who finished 10th in 2:34.28.

Ashley Yearwood and Heyliger failed to qualify in the 50 metres butterfly, finishing ninth and tenth respectively in 31.29 and 31.48.

Heyliger also placed 20th in 100 metres backstroke in 1:15.05 and Frick was the 16th fastest in the 200 metres freestyle in 2:05.45.

Meanwhile former World Sunfish Champion and Pan-Am Games medallist, Malcolm Smith, led Bermuda's charge on the water where the competitors completed races five and six in the 10-race regatta.

Smith won the final race of the day in the Laser Standard Rig class, having earlier posted a third. He now holds down fifth overall on 25 points, having discarded his worst finish of 11th.

Right behind in sixth place on 29 points is the ever-consistent Brett Wright who remained in contention with two seventh-place finishes.

In the Laser Radial Rig class, Sara Lane Pantovic Adderley moved up to fourth with –28 points after a 7th and a 3rd, while in seventh overall is Rockal Evans on 34 points after a 10th and an eighth place finish yesterday.

Boardsailor Alex Jones continued to excel in the 24-strong fleet, although a sixth and a fourth yesterday saw him drop to fifth overall from third.

Competition has been fierce in fickle conditions and Smith knows he'll have to be at his best after today's rest day in order to challenge for a medal.

"I think the level here is pretty high," he said. "I think Brett (Wright) mentioned it has improved a lot since the Shetland Games four years ago. You've got a strong contingent from the British Islands - Isle of Man, Isle of Wight, Ynys Mon. They're all good sailors.

"The RYA (Royal Sailing Association) have great programmes all around Britain. They have the money to back big sailing programmes, there are a lot of junior sailors who have a good feel for the boat, they're in great shape, they're very good tactically, they're fast, so the competition here is good.

"It's taken me a little time to get used to the conditions but today I really had an on-day. There was the most wind yet, really shifty and that played into my hands. And I had two good starts.

"I think these Games are great for young and old. I'm enjoying it. It's not the world's best. But the level is high, and it's great to be a part of it."

Wright added: "We have a very shifty environment. We're surrounding by land and the courses are very short. So you have to get a good start. If you don't, you're in trouble. And even if you do get a good start, you can go from first to the end of the fleet very quickly.

"The sailors here are very good, especially those from the British Isles. They're sailing in 100-boat fleets almost every week and sailing against top competitors."

Evans, competing in his second Island Games, admitted he was "having fun" but was a tad "too heavy for the Radial class."

"The wind's been pretty light so I'm doing pretty good for my weight," he commented.

"I'm looking for a top ten so a medal would be a real bonus."

In the women’s 400 metres final, Stephane Schoeman finished a creditable fifth in 58.29 seconds, bettering her qualifying time of 58.87.

But long jumper Daniel Tucker struggled in the first heat of the qualifiers, managing a best leap of just 5.21 metres. That left him in 18th and last place.

Paul Harshaw and Roslyn Kneeland fired over 50 and 30 metres to complete their competition in the men’s and women’s Recurve events.

Harshaw placed 30th in a field of 36 and Kneeland 15th among the 16 entries.

Bermuda’s men’s golf team got off to a storming start. All four players placed in the top eight in a field of 76 after the first round of the 72-hole tournament at the Alands GC.

Jarryd Dillas was tied for first with an even-par 71 at the King’s course, Daniel Augustus and Damian Palanyandi carded 73 to tie for sixth and Camiko Smith was in eighth position after a 74.

While the men’s team enjoyed huge success in their first round yesterday, the women’s team of Ebonie Burgess, Katrin Burnie, Katyna Rabain and Tariqah Walikraam were playing late into the evening with scores still to be posted by 10.30 p.m. local time last night.

Bermuda’s ladies team continued their domination with a convincing 3-0 victory over Guernsey – winning 25-11, 25-7, 25-21 – to temporarily go top of Group B.

But they were later replaced by Saaremaa who maintained their perfect record with a 3-0 win over Aland and boast a better points difference.

However, with a medal beckoning, Bermuda now face two of their toughest matches against Aland (today) and Saaremaa (tomorrow) which should decide who wins the group.

For the men’s team, it’s been a completely different story as they suffered their third straight defeat, losing 3-0 to Jersey yesterday morning and then going down 3-0 to Saraamaa in the evening.

Before the morning match, the Channel Islanders had propped up Group A but moved above Bermuda with an emphatic 25-17, 25-12, 25-18 victory.

The 22-25, 13-22, 18-25 beating by Saaremaa left the Bermuda team rooted at the bottom of the table with their medal hopes already in tatters