Peter Bromby and Lee White's Olympic dream may remain just that following another less than satisfying performance on the waters of Wassaw Sound yesterday.

Finishes of 20th and ninth in the second and third races of this 11-race regatta left Bromby in sombre mood as he headed back to the Games Village last night contemplating just what went wrong.

He and crew White now lie 12th overall in the Star class and with the likes of defending Olympic champions Mark Reynolds and Hal Haenel of the US, Brazilians Torben Grael and Marcelo Ferreira and Australians Colin Beashel and David Giles, who enjoyed a brilliant day yesterday with two `bullets', jousting for the medal positions, the Bermudians need to propel their challenge into overdrive in today's fourth and fifth races if their medal chances aren't to slip entirely out of reach.

On a hot, humid day with temperatures in the 90s, Bromby desperately wanted to turn up the heat himself after Monday's 10th place finish in the first race -- later advanced to ninth after a successful protest.

And he appeared to be going well as he rounded the first mark of race two, sailed in winds of 10 to 12 knots, in ninth place. But that's as high in the 26-boat fleet as he was to get as matters slipped from bad to worse and he slipped towards the rear of the procession, eventually placing 20th.

The wind picked up considerably for race three, blowing over 20 knots, and Bromby and White, after a poor start, appeared to handle the conditions well, moving from mid-fleet up to ninth at the finish, picking up two positions after passing the final mark.

The Bermudians now have a combined total of 38 points after three races compared to the nine of pacesetters Brazilians Grael and Ferreira.

Reynolds and Haenel stand on ten, while Beashel and Giles, who were beaten by Bromby on opening day, are now in great shape with 13 points after their two firsts. Each team can throw out two races at the end of the series.

For Bromby, one of those throw-outs will almost certainly be yesterday's 20th, and with eight races remaining, Australian coach Ian Jones who was hired by the Bermudian earlier this year, believes there's still time to make amends.

"Obviously we're not in the position we wanted after three races,'' said Jones. "They've got to start thinking about where they want to be at the start and get out with the leading bunch. But I'll be talking with them this evening and I still feel they're very capable of mixing with the best of them here. It's just that they're giving them a head start at the moment and you can't do that.'' Jones admitted he was deeply disappointed with yesterday's first race. "They got forced out in the direction which wasn't the favoured side of the course and they never recovered.

"It was a bit better in the second race, but again they had to fight their way back after a poor start.'' National coach Chuck Millican also believes Bromby can get back into contention.

"He has two top ten finishes, he's not out of it yet by a long way,'' said Millican. "Anything can happen over the next week. Just look at what happened to Ross MacDonald.' ' Millican was referring to yesterday's official results of Monday's opening race which confirmed that Canada's MacDonald and Eric Jespersen had been disqualified following a successful protest from the Americans. The Canadians plunged from first to last in the fleet, lifting the rest of the entries up one place -- Bermuda from tenth to ninth.

According to the race jury, MacDonald had failed to give the overlapping Reynolds room to round one of the marks during an integral part of the manouevre. Worse was to come in yesterday's second race when MacDonald added a PMS (premature start) to add to his DSQ, before he eventually grabbed third place in race three. And with his two throw-outs already inked in, the Canadian needs a high finish in every remaining race to stay in contention.

Bermuda at the Olympics YESTERDAY Sailing Star Class: Peter Bromby/Lee White, race two, 20th; race three, 9th; overall 12th.

Laser Class: Malcolm Smith, race one, 42nd; race two, 30th; overall 39th Europe Dinghy: Paula Lewin, race one, 20th; race two, ninth; overall 16th TODAY All times Bermuda Star Class: race four, 2 p.m. (Bda time); race five, 4 p.m.

Laser Class: race three, 2 p.m.; race four, 4 p.m.

Europe Dinghy: race three, 2 p.m.; race four, 4 p.m.

ELSEWHERE The Chaos Games; US continues domination in pool; Russian wrestler keeps streak alive; Frankie Frederick to go for the double; "Olympic Baywatch'' debuts.

All the results. Page 23