in the Nations Cup Grand Final in Hoorn, Holland, with a dramatic second-round fightback yesterday.

Peter Holmgren's recovery was highlighted by a sudden-death victory over Peter Bromby after the teams were tied for second place following the completion of their double round robin.

Bermuda had to settle for fifth overall.

The US Virgin Islands were seemingly out of contention after just one win in their first five round-robin matches on Wednesday, which left them on the bottom of their group.

However, they pulled out all the stops yesterday in sailing to five straight wins, which lifted them from last to second and locked them into a two-way tie with Bermuda, both with 6-4 overall records.

And it was the US Virgin Islands who rode their good fortunes again in winning the sail-off to clinch a semifinal meeting today against Holland.

France, the winners of group I, will meet group I runners-up Australia in today's other semifinal.

Bromby went into yesterday's racing looking to build on a good opening day, which saw he and crew win four of their five races to lead the six-team group.

However, they had a bad start when they lost to France's Bertrand Pace, with whom Bermuda were tied going into the day.

Bermuda were set back after receiving a penalty and thus having to complete a 270-degree turn at the start. That proved too difficult to recover from, though Bromby and crew made reasonable gains on each of the two windward legs.

The locals bounced back in the second race when they got a morale-boosting victory over Great Britain, the only team to beat them in the first round on Wednesday.

There was an even start for both skippers followed by a tacking duel that put Bermuda marginally ahead. Great Britain, skippered by Andy Beadsworth, incurred a penalty close to the windward mark and from that point Bermuda were in full control and won easily.

The third race against the US Virgin Islands again saw an even start with Bermuda gaining the uppoer hand early in the race and keeping the lead until the second windward mark when Bermuda's mainsheet jammed.

This setback resulted in a loss of steerage and allowed USVI to pass and eventually win.

Bermuda incurred a penalty against the Swedish team in the next race and had no chance to recover after a 270-degree turn.

Bermuda built a comfortable lead against Peru early in the fifth race for their sixth win in 10 races.

This put Bermuda and the US Virgin Islands in a tie for second and as they had split their head-tohead meetings, a sail-off was required.

The race went off gusts of 25 knots at the end of the day and Bromby gained a five-boatlength lead two-thirds up the first windward leg.

Holmgren closed to within one boatlength by the turn thanks to an advantageous lift on the left side of the course.

At the first weather mark, Holmgren gained the inside position and found better breeze on the left-hand side as Bermuda jibed at the mark and fell into a hole.