Peter Bromby's bid for a second successive regatta victory got off to a flying start yesterday when he grabbed opening race glory at the Rolex Miami Olympic Class Regatta.

After seeing off top competition to take first place at the Biscayne Bay Trophy last week, Bromby (pictured right) and crew Martin Siese had been hopeful of a strong performance in Florida once again.

Among some of the top Star Class sailors in the world, the pair followed up their opening win with a third in the second race. However, their good run came to an end in the final race of the day when they came in 18th.

Despite the day ending on a low, Bromby was upbeat about their chances over the coming days.

"Overall, we are in fourth place and keeping in mind we will have discards later in the regatta it puts us in a very good spot," he said.

The Olympian, fourth at the Sydney Games, said the races were run in an east, south-east wind of between 12 and 15 knots.

"Early in the day we were doing really well but we overstood the first windward mark in the last race which cost us heavily," he said.

"It was a tactical blunder but tomorrow is another day."

However, Bromby said the forecast for today was not as favourable as he would have liked.

"We are supposed to have a little more breeze which probably isn't that good for us as Martin and I are relatively new together and haven't actually sailed in any really heavy wind yet," he said.

Bromby said he was "quite happy" to be where he was, eight points behind leader Vince Brun from the US, seven behind second placed Ross MacDonald of Canada and five off third placed Mark Pickel of Germany.

"The regatta is only 25 percent complete. It's a multiple race event and we just have to go out there and keep the top 10 finishes coming in and at the end of the day hope that we will be there," he said.

"The results are quite up and down and there are probably 15 guys here capable of winning."

Bermuda's Paula Lewin, with crew of Peta Lewin and Lisa Neasham, is in eighth place in the Yngling Class event.

They came 11th in the first race, rallied to fourth in the second, suffered a seventh in the third race and 10th in their fourth and final race of the day.

The trio have 32 points, the same as seventh placed Monica Azon and her crew from Spain, but the European is ahead on account of her second and third placed finishes.

Bermuda's other competitor Brett Wright, meanwhile, is in 51st place in the Laser Class.

Of his three races only two finishes counted - a 36th place and a 39th.

In the second race he was penalised for being on the course side of the starting line (OCS) giving him a total of 140 points.

A total of 434 sailors have flocked to Miami's Coconut Grove to compete in the classes that have been chosen for the 2004 Olympic Regatta in Greece.

All the Bermudians will be in action again today with racing starting around 11 a.m.