field after four races of the Pre-Olympic Regatta in Savannah, Georgia.

Bromby, with crew Lee White, placed 11th in his first race, third in the second, ninth in the third and then won the fourth to put himself among the leaders of the Star class going into yesterday's fifth and sixth races of the 10-race series which ends tomorrow.

Some 31 boats are participating.

Leading the class was Hans Wallen of Sweden while Michael Hesbeck of Denmark was in second place.

Current Star class world champion Ross McDonald of Canada was ninth overall while Vince Brunn, the top US competitor, had moved up to sixth. Olympic gold medallist, Mark Reynolds, was 12th.

"Anywhere in the top 15 in this field is good,'' said Bromby before yesterday's races. "We're a little over the moon right now. At this stage of the pre-Olympics in 1982 in Barcelona we were 32nd so for us to be sitting third right now, we're quite happy.'' For the Olympics next year each country will be allowed one boat in each class. At the current regatta there are up to two from each country which means that competition is even keener.

"It's fair to say that this is even more competitive than the Olympic Games itself. Another thing that is encouraging is that it's been quite a heavy air regatta and usually we haven't been doing that great in heavy air,'' said Bromby.

"We made one sail change and that seems to be working out for us. Yesterday (Monday) afternoon we had a text book race. In the first race we had a bad start and clawed our way back which is pretty tough to do in this field. We were happy to get back to ninth.'' The regatta finishes tomorrow and Bromby and White will then travel to Connecticut for a weekend regatta before returning home.

"I think a lot of our success stems from the fact that we're coming together as a team and that we're getting more and more time in the boat together,'' added Bromby.

Peter Bromby