in St. George's Harbour last weekend. And the decision puts a different spin on the Coronation Cup series.

Port Royal still remains the boat to beat but Elizabeth , skippered by Malcolm Smith, is now five-and-a-half points back instead of six-and-a-half, having picked up another point with the protest.

Victory IV , skippered by David Hillier, was in a collision with Elizabeth downwind as they headed towards the stake boat in the race for the Middleton Shield.

Elizabeth was inside but had the right of way before Victory IV came across and Elizabeth hit her. Victory IV then counter-protested on rule six, that the hit was intentional. Rule six says "a boat cannot hunt and intentionally hit another''.

That protest was thrown out on Thursday night during the hearing. It was ruled that Victory IV broke rules 13 and 14 by not getting clear ahead of Elizabeth and giving her room to round the leeward mark.

Port Royal won that race and continues to lead the series. There are two more race days remaining, tomorrow in Mangrove Bay and then on September 12 in Granaway Deep.

Contest is the defending champion but trails eight points behind the leaders and out of the running. However, they can play the role of spoilers on the last two race days and skipper Andreas Lewin will have some of his old crew back as they bid to cause an upset.

Port Royal , skippered by Willie White, lead thet Coronation Cup with 641 points, with Elizabeth second on 583 and Contest third on 541 points.

There are four races remaining in the Coronation Cup before the season ends with the one-off race for the Jubilee Cup between Victory IV and Elizabeth -- one of the oldest sailing trophy races in the world.