with her unwillingness to provide more than a token breeze a major bone of contention.

Particularly frustrating for competitors and even less endearing for spectators was the morning period where boats stood virtually motionless, forcing officials to abort the first race midway through the initial upwind leg.

The sound of three short blasts signalling the cancellation triggered mostly cheers, although J24 participant Bob Lynch jokingly voiced his disagreement, no doubt due to the fact that he was leading at the time.

A waiting game ensued, but after a lengthy break conditions were deemed suitable and it was then time for John Alofsin and Adam Wheeler to shine.

Alofsin, an American, continued with his pattern of first-place finishes, collecting his third on the trot to move into a commanding position atop the J24 class on two-and-a-quarter points.

Contrasting fortunes followed chief challenger P.A. Allen as he faltered badly, finishing 10th and dropping to fourth overall on 14 points. Taking advantage were Bermuda's Michael Emery (11) and the Sandy Grosvenor/Paul Borssuck (12) combination, advancing to second and third overall.

Grosvenor and Borssuck were third yesterday, while Emery achieved fourth.

Meanwhile, Wheeler, after two disappointing early results where he placed 10th and ninth in the International One Design fleet collected his first Race Week victory ahead of second-place finisher Charles Crofoot and moved four places from 10th to sixth.

"Well, we had one less crew and a very nice boat named Dreamer ,'' said Wheeler, explaining his sudden change of fortunes. "We thought there was a little more wind on the right side at the start and it turned out there was a lot more. We got out there farther than anybody else and got out to a big lead.'' Defending champion Bill Shore moved closer to second Norwegian Series `A' triumph in placing third and could all but wrap up the title with a good showing today.

"It's (regatta) gone pretty nicely for us,'' said Shore. "The first issue is that Peter Bromby's not here.

"That allows us to sail with a little more freedom. Today we were a little more lucky than anything, we should have been fourth, fifth or sixth but we ended third.

"Yesterday we should have finished second in the race we won, but were lucky on a couple of shifts. It's very hard to predict what the wind's going to do and anybody who tells you what it is going to do I wouldn't believe.

"We're going to probably have some bad races at the end...I think we're operating on borrowed time.'' Shore (53 points) presently leads Bermudian Blythe Walker (123 ) -- eighth yesterday -- in the overall standings followed by Bill Widnall (13).

Small boat action was affected by the weather with just one race being sailed.

Bill Buckles took the early lead in the Snipes, winning ahead of Jerry Thompson and Chris Hains.

The Comet class saw veteran Rudy Bailey adopting his usual position at the head of the fleet trailed by Mark Hess and Gladwin Lambert.

Andreas Lewin was the top gun in the Lasers, beating Christian Luthi and Lynne Shore for the honour, while Bahamian Donny Martinborough showed that he is the class of the Sunfish fleet with Posy Seifert and Harry League second and third respectively.

SNOOZE TIME -- Members of J24 ace John Alofsin's, far right, crew take a break during yesterday's first race where a lack of wind caused race officials to abort it midway through the first leg.