series at the halfway stage after placing fifth in yesterday's third race in Miami, Florida.

Bromby and White, winners of the series' first race, are ahead of the 65-boat fleet on 19 points, but just a point separates the locals from Star class newcomers Glyn Charles of Great Britain and crew Tom McWilliam of Ireland who dropped from first to second on 20 points after their 14th place yesterday.

Bromby is cautiously optimistic about his chances of staying in first place after the fifth race when the skippers are allowed to drop their worst result.

Bromby is 13th but three-time and defending Bacardi Cup champion Peter Wright of Chicago and crew Greg Cook of Minnesota, who were second in yesterday's race to go with a first the day before, will soon be able to discard their 35th placing on the opening day.

Four-time Bacardi Cup champion Mark Reynolds of San Diego and crew Hal Haenel of Hollywood, California came from behind yesterday to handily capture first place and improve their overall position from 39th to 23rd.

"Any finish in the top 15 is fine with us,'' said Bromby. "There are a lot of good sailors here, guys who are capable of putting together three good races in a row.

"We're just going out there to sail the best race we can.''