A morale-boosting victory over the defending Olympic champions in a practice race on Wednesday has helped put local medal hopefuls Peter Bromby and Lee White in a positive frame of mind as they continue their preparation for the Atlanta Games, now just a week away.

As Hurricane Bertha swirled up the US East Coast yesterday, moving within 180 miles of the Olympic sailing venue at Savannah, Bromby, White and Bermuda's two other Olympic sailors, Paula Lewin and Malcolm Smith as well as the rest of the international gathering were forced onto dry land.

But in a telephone interview from his Wilmington Island apartment, Bromby assured that all was going to plan, his and White's confidence lifted by a match-up against Americans Mark Reynolds and Hal Haenal which saw the Star class Barcelona gold medallists soundly beaten.

"The training has been going well and yesterday was one of the best days we've had,'' said an upbeat Bromby. "We went up against the current gold medallist and beat him quite handily.

"It's nice to see our speed improving. We feel we're making real progress.

"Yesterday's session and another we had last week were very encouraging.'' Bromby and White are well aware that when the 10-race Olympic series gets underway a week on Monday, as many as a dozen countries will be seen as potential medallists.

But having beaten all of those in the fleet at one time or another during the past couple of years, the former world IOD champion has little to fear.

"Generally we're very pleased with the way things have gone,'' added Bromby.

"The conditions here in Savannah are good for us -- eight to 14 knot winds.

It's one of the things which I think works in our favour.

"Our speed is improving, and next week we'll work on our starts. That's one of the last things we'll do.'' Bromby used yesterday's enforced rest day to order new sails, seemingly unfazed by the hurricane alert.

"It doesn't look like we're going to get hit. It's passed by to the east and we've been told we'll get winds of 40 to 50 mph at worst.

"It's just a pain in the neck that we've missed a day's sailing. They closed down the Sheraton Hotel and the day marina and we had to pack all the gear up and put the boat back in the container. But it's the same for everybody else here. We're all in the same boat.

"It would have been nice to have been out there sailing today. But it's also nice to have a rest day.'' Tom Fischer, a spokesman for the Atlanta Committee for the Olympic Games, had confirmed earlier there would be no training on the water yesterday.

"The athletes are not allowed on the venue today,'' he said. "We hope to be back in operation tomorrow afternoon.'' A hurricane warning remained in effect yesterday from Brunswick, Georgia to the North Carolina-Virginia border. Warnings from Sebastian Inlet, Florida to Brunswick were lifted early in the day.

The closest the storm got to Savannah was 180 miles east yesterday afternoon, bringing seas of 10 feet or higher, winds of about 40 mph and showers to the coast.

Larger yachts, 20 to 27 feet, were towed to safer water in the Wilmington River, about eight miles inland. The smaller ones were tied down on a floating dock in Wassaw Sound, to ride out the winds.

"Precautions were taken. Some boats were secured, but no one is concerned,'' said Basil Hamblin, a spokesman for the Atlanta Committee for the Olympic Games.

Seven of 14 tents set up at the Olympic marina to accommodate the Olympic teams were pulled down and tied down on Wednesday because of the hurricane threat. They were being put back up yesterday.

Bermuda Olympic Association were working to amend plans yesterday which would allow all four Bermuda sailors to attend the Games opening ceremony in Atlanta next Friday evening.

Chef de Mission Phil Guishard noted that the current arrangement called for all sailors to travel by bus from Savannah to Atlanta, a drive of some five hours, and transported back the same night. Inbetween athletes could face a long wait outside the Olympic Stadium in the build-up to the opening ceremony.

"It isn't reasonable to expect the athletes to endure a long, tiring drive and then a long wait outside the Stadium,'' said Guishard. "We're trying to arrange for them to be flown to Atlanta and flown back.

"A separate opening ceremony for the sailors is being held the next day (Saturday) so they have to get back to Savannah for that.'' Bermudian equestrienne Suzie Dunkley-Zandvoort faces a similar dilemma as the sailors. She is now based in South Carolina and must decide next week whether to make the four-hour drive to Atlanta for the opening ceremony.

ON COURSE -- Medal hopefuls Peter Bromby and Lee White, seen here competing in the Star class, have been making steady progress in their lead-up to the Olympics, culminating with a defeat of the defending Olympic champions in a practice race this week.