Bermuda?s chances of an Olympic medal in the Yngling class took a deeper plunge yesterday as Paula Lewin and crew finished last and 14th to be desperately close to the bottom of the fleet at the halfway stage.

Six of 11 races are now complete at the Olympic Sailing Centre and the Island?s trio ? Lewin and crew Peta Lewin and Christine Patton ? lie 13th out of 16 on 52 points with one drop.

They began yesterday knowing only a series of top-ten results would suffice but the luck and outcomes were not at all their way.

Worse yet, they lost their spinnaker in both races and were never a factor in either as Shirley Robertson of Britain cemented her hold on the number one position with the low score of 13 points.

?The results don?t really show how well we sailed. We?ve just had some unlucky breaks,? said Peta Lewin.

?We had really good speed and we kept fighting but it was blowing 18 to 30 knots out there.

?We were tenth and fifth respectively in the two races and then we broached and the boat went over.?

?We got caught in really big puffs and there was nothing we could do. It happened so quickly both times,? added Lewin as she reflected on their back-to-back disasters.

?It was a difficult day. It was really disappointing to get so close to the finish and have this happen twice.

?We?re very upset about today. It was a key day and it would have been nicer to be nearer to the top and working our way up rather than where we are.?

On both occasions that their sails capitulated they had about a third of the final leg remaining.

The original spinnaker suffered a four to five-foot tear and they used their substitute in the second race (sixth race overall). Though that also filled with too much air and caused them to topple again, it was not damaged.

However, in accordance with competition rules, they must fix their original sail and use it when they recommence sailing tomorrow after today?s break in action.

The Bermudians remain optimistic they can turn things around with a little luck.

?If we had a fifth and tenth we would be in a much better position but we just have to keep positive. We have another three days and we understand the wind should be lighter after tomorrow and we should have different circumstances.

?There?s a lot more racing left in this regatta. It?s definitely high-scoring and everybody has been having trouble,? said Lewin.

One lowly silver lining for the Bermudians was that their protest against the Russians on Sunday was upheld.

Ekaterina Skudina and her crew were disqualified from race four for not undertaking a penalty turn after colliding with the Bermudian boat at the start and have fallen down the standings to tenth on 40 points as a consequence.