the Great Sound, that of yet another victory for local favourite Peter Bromby.

"The fat lady's on stage! She hasn't sung yet, but she's on stage!'' Bromby said when asked if he could taste another title.

The win marked his fourth of the best-of-seven series -- he came second in the another -- which has the final two races planned for today, and it would take a minor miracle to prevent the 29-year-old from capturing his third straight title.

"Something tragic would have to befall him,'' said American Steve Madeira, in charge of tactics aboard the current second-place entry led by skipper Jim Bishop. "In our minds we're sailing for second, but I'd like to beat him just to say we beat him, because we haven't done it yet.

"At this point I don't think it's mathematically possible (to catch Bromby) ... he could take the next two days off and still probably win it.'' Bromby has performed superbly throughout the week and yesterday was merely a continuation of the process, although it took a bit of good fortune in the early going.

Approaching the first windward mark, Jan Petter Roed of Norway had Bromby pinned on the inside and it appeared as though the latter would require an additional tack to be able to round the mark cleanly.

Instead, Roed -- possibly fearing a collision in the strong winds and choppy seas -- gave ground and it was Bromby first at the turn toward the jibe mark and from that point he was never headed.

"He opened the door for me,'' said Bromby. "That victory was compliments of Jan.'' Utilising good boat speed, Bromby pulled away during the downwind legs, constantly forcing his opponents to gamble in their attempts to catch up when travelling upwind.

At one point it was almost as if he was toying with the fleet, such was the superiority he and his four-man crew of Mickey Cox, Mick Finnegan, Malcolm Wilson and Lee White enjoyed.

"We were just trying to play the shifts,'' he explained. "Everyone else went right, but we just shot the middle like we've done all week, trying not to get in the corners.

"Whenever you go into the corners of the race course you're lessening your chances of picking the favourable shifts and can get pinned in.

"Any time you come up in the middle you can play a shift, if one ever comes.

It's a little like cards ... you can only play what's dealt to you.

"But you want to try and stay in the middle whenever you can and it's worked out well for us. When we got a lead early, we just kept going up the middle.'' Meanwhile, Roed was able to maintain his second-place position for the most part, but eventualy buckled under pressure from Americans John Burnham and Henry Mettier early on and Burnham and Penny Simmons late.

Burnham eventually crossed the line second. Bishop made up the most ground at the end, surging from seventh to the number three spot on the final leg. Roed would end in fifth.

Other than Bromby it was not a day for past winners, as both Simmons, the winner in 1985, and nine-time champion Bill Widnall both ended well down the fleet.

Simmons made a last-gasp effort when he tacked deep into the left corner on the final leg, but the move backfired as the veteran yachtsman plummeted from third to a final position in sixth. Widnall was never a factor and wound up eighth.

The result further fortified Bromby's lead as he now has five points, 14 better than Bishop, with Simmons third on 23 and Widnall fourth (243 ).

WATCH MY REAR -- American Jim Bishop (light coloured shirt) and his crew keep a close eye on the competition during action yesterday in the Great Sound.*l