IOD World Championship series yesterday in a tense finish in the Great Sound.

Starting in eight to 10-knot breezes and sunny skies, the race ended in winds gusting to 16 knots as a squall swept through. A major wind shift brought about an upheaval in the positions of the 13-strong fleet -- and nearly caused Bromby to lose the race.

But, along with crew Lee White, Mick Finegan, Micky Cox and Malcolm (Chilibop) Wilson, he managed to beat American Jim Bishop, Jr., of Long Island Sound by less than a boat length.

Round the finish mark seconds later was Jim McNamara, who also sails out of Long Island Sound but is a newcomer to IOD world championship racing.

Bishop had led the fleet from the start after the three favourites, Bromby, Penny Simmons and America's Bill Widnall, all incurred penalties.

Simmons, Widnall and Bermuda's third representative Martin Siese had to turn back and restart the race for crossing the line prematurely. Meanwhile, Bromby had to do a penalty turn for running foul of Widnall prior to the start.

Of the four, Bromby managed the best recovery. Proving he was not going to be put off by a bad start, he plied his way into second place on the first leg.

"We could easily have lost,'' Bromby admitted after the race. "At the end we could see a big wind shift was coming because of the squall line. We were not sure exactly what way it was turning but we suspected it would go right. Then we suddenly saw Bill (Widnall) deep right and thought we had better keep an eye on him.

"I was a little nervous -- a front like that brought a 30-degree shift in the wind. But I'm happy we hung on where we were.'' Other than the penalty, two-time defending champion Bromby said he was pleased with his performance, saying it was fortunate for him that the rest of the favourites incurred penalties at the start, too.

It was the first race in a best-of-seven series to be spread out over a week ending Friday.

Simmons and crew, wife Sacha, Ray Pitman, Larry Lindo and Jay Hooper, saw only a fair recovery after their bad start.

The former IOD world champion managed to keep in either fourth or fifth position, moving into third at one point.

But he suffered in the wind shift at the end, winding up a distant ninth.

Siese, however, lucked out at the end. He had sailed among the last five boats for most of the race, but was able to pass Simmons and a few other boats on his way to the finish mark, taking seventh place overall.

Another definite contender for the cup was Jan Petter Roed of Norway, who kept on Bishop's heels for the first few legs but began losing ground on the third leg, ending up eighth overall.

Marblehead's Widnall failed to pull out of last place until around the third leg, moving from sixth into fourth place overall.

"We were a little off the pace,'' Widnall said. "We didn't seem to recover at all on the first leg -- we were still last at the windward mark while Peter had recovered to fifth. But we seemed to move ahead on the second (leg) when we got some good wind shifts.'' It was only on the second last leg of the six-leg race that Bromby passed Bishop after getting caught in an overlap situation with the skipper. But Bishop fought to the end, keeping less than a boat length behind Bromby.

The 39th Newport-Bermuda Race for the first time in 1994 will have a double-handed IMS class and a class for megayachts, Yachting magazine reported in its September issue.

To commemorate the 150th anniversary of Royal Bermuda Yacht Club, the fourth and fifth races of the Onion Patch Series have been scheduled to take place in Bermuda.

The first two will be held on June 11-12 in Newport as part of the New York YC regatta. The Bermuda Race will start on June 17 and the last two races of the series will be held here starting on June 24.

The 635-mile classic will also for the first time allow Kevlar and Spectra sailcloth in the Cruising Division for non-spinnaker yachts.

DUEL FOR FIRST -- American Jim Bishop, Jr., (10) and Bermuda's Peter Bromby (2), on the final leg in yesterday's IOD World Championship opener, battle for first place after rounding the leeward mark. Still heading for the mark are John Burnham (23) and David Rockefeller, Jr., (15), both of the US.