Peter Bromby?s mixed bag of fortunes continued at the Bacardi Cup on the waters of Key Biscayne, Florida yesterday.

After winning the second race, the defending champion completed day five of the week-long regatta with a 16th place finish, a performance which saw the Bermudian skipper ? in third spot after three days of competition ? slip further down the points standings to eighth among the 92 international entries.

Bromby finished 17th on Wednesday.

The Portuguese team of Alfonso Domingos and Bernardo Santos maintained their consistent form and position atop the leaderboard ahead of today?s final day of racing.

Domingos finished seventh yesterday to hold onto a six-point lead over nearest rivals, Americans Howie Shiebler and Will Stout who continued their steady ascent by overhauling Canadians Ross Macdonald and Mike Wolfs to take sole possession of second place.

Macdonald, meanwhile, slipped a spot down to third after finishing 11th in yesterday?s race, again contested in shifty conditions on Biscayne Bay.

Swedish world champion Freddy Loof and crew Anders Ekstrom and five-time Bacardi Cup champion Vince Brun and his crew Mike Dorgan were among four boats that failed to make to the start of yesterday?s race.

Former Whitbread Round the World Race winner and five-time America?s Cup participant Paul Cayard bowed out of the regatta after finishing 12th yesterday.

Bromby is accompanied in the sunshine state by crew Martin Siese and Lee White, the highly world ranked Olympic skipper using each on alternate days.