Bermuda's Peter Bromby and crew Lee White capped off an outstanding week of sailing over the weekend by placing third among an elite group of international sailors at the Spa Regatta in Medemblik, Netherlands.

The Island's 2004 Olympic hopefuls finished fourth during last Saturday's final race of the Star Class to overhaul Americans Mark Reynolds and Frenchman Rohart Xavier and take their place on the podium.

Defending and current world champions Iain Percy and Steve Mitchell (USA) comfortably retained their title while Brazil's Torben Grael and Marcello Ferreira finished second.

Over the course of the four-day regatta, Bromby rubbed shoulders with the likes of Sydney gold medallist Reynolds, European champion Fredrik Loof and current world number one Xavier - such was the competitive nature of the class which was comprised of 59 boats.

Bermuda's Paula Lewin and Carola Cooper, meanwhile, were also on the move over the weekend. The local female sailors leapt from eighth to sixth position after placing 13th and 14th in the final two races in the Yngling fleet.

American Betsy Alison captured the Yngling crown while Denmark's Dorte Jensen finished third. Thirty-three boats in total competed in the Yngling fleet while in all, some 836 entries and over 1200 competitors competed at the Spa Regatta.

Herv? Favre, a Swiss national resident in Bermuda, will be the only local entry competing in next month's Bermuda One-Two sailing race.

The bi-ennial event, which has taken place every two years since 1977, is considered longest and toughest shorthanded event in North America.

The course is from Newport (Rhode Island, USA) to Bermuda and back.

Favre will unaccompanied on the first leg while wife, Muriela, will join her husband onboard for the return leg to Newport.

So far, some 30 boats are predicted to make it to the start line, among them well known skippers such as Tim Kent on his Open 50 , who also competed against local circumnavigator, Alan Paris, in the recently concluded Around Alone Race.

The race starts on June 7 while the start of the second leg from St.George's will commence on Friday, June 20.

Favre has had previous experience in single-handed sailing, having finished sixth in the Transat 6.50 2001 event, sailing solo for more than 4,000 miles on a 21-foot production yacht across the Atlantic from France to Brazil.

However, this time around he will sail a POGO 28, the smallest yacht in the fleet but certainly not the slowest.

The course is particularly tactical and challenging with the Gulf Stream to cross on each 650-mile leg.

Favre's mission will be two-fold as the sailor will be raising funds for local charity, Big Brothers And Sisters.

Sailors and others interested can keep abreast of Favre over the course of his journey by logging onto www.mini-transat.net.