recording first and second-place finishes as he opened the defence of his International Race Week crown.

Renowned for his making of high performance sails, Shore once again showed that he is no slouch at the helm either, operating his borrowed International One Design (IOD) with consummate ease.

The day's opening race saw Shore outmanoeuvre Bill Widnall on his way to victory as the nine-time world champion was forced to settle for second, with Brad Burnham third.

However, the second race had Shore being upstaged by local ace Blythe Walker, who has aspirations of his own with regard to the title.

Walker, fourth earlier, used his local knowledge of the wind shifts to great effect, bumping Shore to the runner-up spot while positioning himself to mount a firm challenge as the week progresses.

Third in race two was James Bishop as Widnall faltered, dropping to sixth.

Shore's tour of duty garnered him two and three-quarter points overall to lead Walker by two points with Burnham next on seven.

Although most eyes were on Shore and the rest of the IOD fleet, not to be lost was the performance of John Alofsin among the J24s.

Alofsin's day was indeed a perfect one as he picked up where he left off last year in recording a double dose of first-place finishes and `making no bones' about who is the man to beat.

Both times it was P.A. Allen who trailed the American across the line, while Bermuda's lone hope, Michael Emery, recorded a third and a fourth. The team of Sandy Grosvenor and Paul Borssuck also had a third, that coming in race two as Alofsin, Allen, Emery and the Borssuck/Grosvenor combination sat one, two, three, four heading into today's action.

Heading the standings among the highly competitive Etchells 22 fleet after one race was Canadian Stuart Ash, followed by Eric Kreuter and Edward Fort.

Defending champion Tim Patton got off to a rocky start as he could only manage eighth yesterday.

The best showing by locals in the class came from the team of Bill McNiven and Andreas Lewin, who were fifth, while Stevie Dickinson was sixth in his first foray into the regatta among the Etchells.

Racing continues today with the smaller boats -- Lasers, Snipes, Comets and Sunfish -- seeing action out of Spanish Point Boat Club.

Peter Bromby and crew Lee White get their first taste of real action at the Europe Spring Championships with the first two races scheduled for today in Tutzing, Germany.

The pair will be included in a fleet of 75 boats with 16 countries represented.

Racing takes place in Lake Starnberg with the Bermudian skipper going up against the likes of Vince Brun who stood between Bromby and first place at the recent West Spring regatta.

Also included is Germany's Alex Hagen, a past world champion and one who will have the added advantage of sailing in his `back yard'.

"We're going to have to be real lucky, things are quite shifty out there,'' said Bromby during a telephone interview following yesterday's final practice session.

Seven races are scheduled over the next week, with six to count.