TODAY Peter Bromby and Lee White begin their quest to qualify for their fifth Olympic Games when they compete in the Star World Championships on the waters of Biscayne Bay in Miami.

Bromby and White flew to Miami a week ago and Martin Siese, who has crewed for Bromby in the past in major regattas, has joined them.

"Martin will be taking pictures of us racing and he will point out anything that is wrong or which can help ¿ he is part of the team," said Bromby this week.

With the boat measuring going on this week, Bromby said that he and White have managed to get out for practise racing every day. "We are making some inroads ¿ we have had some pretty good practices," he said.

Bromby has two Star boats in Miami but he is looking to the boat he has been racing in all winter.

"Normally you cannot change boats. It would take a major breakdown to convince them (race committee) that it could not be fixed. You would have to show them that we couldn't physically fix the boat. For instance in the last regatta we had a big hole in the side but we managed to get it fixed. The guy who did it did a good job and although it didn't look pretty it was structurally sound. We were in it the next day."

All but one of the top 20 ranked Star class teams in the world are among the competitors who are prepping for their most important race regatta.

The Worlds will determine which countries take the last four open slots in the Olympics this summer in China and will determine for many countries, such as Germany, which Star team will represent them at the Olympics.

According to the International Sailing Federation's (ISAF) updated Star team rankings released this week, Mateusz Kusznierewicz from Poland held on to his number one spot and the greatest upward movement was Italy's Luca Modena who moved up four places to 15th.

Ranked in the number two spot is the Italian Diego Negri, followed by Xavier Rohart of France, Afonso Domingos, Portugal, Freddie Loof, Sweden, Robert Scheidt, Brazil, Marc Pickel, Germany, Hamish Pepper, New Zealand, Flavio Marazzi, Switzerland, Iain Percy, Great Britain, Marin Lovrovic, Jr., Croatia, Eivind Melleby, Norway, Iain Murray, Australia, Robert Stanjek, Germany, Luca Modena, Italy, John Dane, USA, Peter Bromby, Bermuda, Hans Spitzauer, Austria and George Szabo, USA in 19th place.

Following a scheduled practice race yesterday, there was a patriotic and colourful Opening Ceremony at the host club, the Coral Reef Yacht Club, consisting of a parade of 31 nations, national anthems and the US Coast Guard's Honor Guard along with speeches.

''There's something spectacular about 100 boats on the starting line at the same time,'' race chairman Rich Raymond said this week. "Usually, the Stars attract the top of the fleet in professional and amateur sailors.''

These World Championships have been dubbed 'Star Wars 2008'.

And although Miami and the Coral Reef Yacht Club have been the setting for many major regattas, this is the first time Miami has played host to the World Star Championships.

Today 18 world champions will be among the 100 boats for the opening race which will start at noon. The course measures over 10 miles and the two-man team with the lowest score at the conclusion of six races will be declared the world champion.

Sailors will be allowed to discard their worst finish.

Many of the sailors have been in Miami all winter, training and competing in six local regattas, including January's Rolex Olympic Classes event and last month's Bacardi Cup.

The World Championships ¿ already huge in the competitive sailing arena ¿ have a heightened importance this year because of the Olympics in China. There will be 17 Star teams competing in Xingdao, and 13 countries ¿ the US, Great Britain, France, Brazil, New Zealand, Italy, Germany, Sweden, Australia, Portugal, Ireland, and China ¿ already have qualified.

A total of 17 countries will use this event to try to qualify for the remaining four Olympic spots ¿ Argentina, Austria, Bermuda, Bulgaria, Canada, Chile, Croatia, Denmark, Spain, Finland, Hungary, Japan, Netherlands, Norway, Russia, Switzerland, and Ukraine.

And Bromby said before leaving Bermuda that if he and White qualify for Beijing this summer it will be his final Olympics. Bromby has competed in every Olympic Games since Barcelona in 1992.