For differing reasons two achievements in 2002 have a special place in Paula Lewin's heart.

Basking in the glory of being the Island's top female athlete last year, the 31-year-old sailor chose the World Championships and the Bermuda International Women's Match Racing Championships as the highlights of a satisfying campaign.

"The Worlds was a greater achievement because we qualified for the Olympics and that was very important in terms of the big picture.

"But, to be able to perform at your top level in your home waters - although it didn't have at much at stake because it wasn't a qualification or a world championship - and win was better emotionally," concluded Lewin, reflecting on the successes that resulted in her fourth Female Athlete of the Year award.

Speaking to The Royal Gazette from San Diego, California last night, the Yngling specialist was particularly proud to be honoured by the people she represents.

"I don't think people realise how much it means to athletes to be recognised at home - for exactly that reason. We are representing Bermuda proudly. We are doing great things for our country and for ourselves and to have that be recognised at home is icing on the cake. It's so rewarding personally."

Having dedicated half her life to the sport she loves, this usually mild-mannered sportswoman acknowledged it was her fierce competitiveness that had driven her to be among the world's best in her discipline.

"I am very competitive and I thrive on the thrills of succeeding and I also thrive on not succeeding but making changes to improve things and enjoying that process as well.

"The ultimate goal is to do well but I am not one to come up against a brick wall and say 'That's it. I just wasn't made for the sport'. No, my feeling is that I am creating my own destiny and it's either try and figure it out or not.

"It's that challenge I have undertaken that drives me and the taste of success - which I've known - is what drives that," said Lewin who is on a training stint that will take her from the USA to Europe before she returns home in April.

It's all part of a measured build-up to next year's Olympics for which she has qualified. The former world Yngling number one is quietly confident that she and her crew (her twin sister Peta and Carola Cooper) can contend for a medal.

This, she acknowledged would be the defining exploit of her career - an accomplishment above all others.

"We have all the right tools to win it. It's just a matter of laying out the right path for the next two years and I think we're doing that. We're on track."