Malcolm Smith may be numero uno as far as Sunfish sailing is concerned in Bermuda, but the Pan-Am Games silver medallist would love nothing better than for someone to challenge him for the honour.

Smith (44), who took second place in the waters off Boca Chica on Sunday, said he was keen for the class to grow in his native land.

"My goal is to try and get some juniors into the class," he said, "and make them potential (skippers) for either the next Games or the one after that."

Smith said he would like to see some youngsters leave the Optimist class behind, if they felt ready, and join him.

"If they think the Laser radial is too much for them then maybe we need to get a few in the Sunfish class," he said. "Some of the kids coming into the class from other countries like Peru and Guatemala, they are coming from the Opti straight into the Sunfish and they are doing extremely well.

"With some good coaching we could get the juniors into the Sunfish class and in another four years, if the Sunfish is still in the Games, they would either be giving me a good run for the spot or they would be approaching that level."

Smith said the class needed somewhat of a boost in profile.

"It has been kind of dormant for the last couple of years," he said. "Luckily, I have had Martin Vezina (Bermuda-based Canadian) to train with me."

Smith said he hoped the Sunfish, which is not an Olympic Class, would be in the 2007 Pan-Ams, but it wasn't cut and dried.

"Every time a Games is over they decide what classes will be involved in the next ones," he said. "It's all done by votes. Sunfish is very popular in the Caribbean and Central America and it's helping the class grow.

"In the last Games (Winnipeg, 1999) we had I think ten countries, this time we had 12. So I think next time we could be looking at 14 or 15 countries."