BERMUDA Star sailor Peter Bromby’s quest for a spot at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing is moving along rapidly.Last weekend he and crewmate Bill McNiven warmed up for the Rolex Miami Olympic Class Regatta with a second-place finish in the 35-boat Star Levin Cup which was also sailed off Miami.

Bromby, who left again for Florida yesterday, was also very pleased with his performance at the North American Star Championships in November when he and McNiven came in ninth place among the 80-odd boat fleet which featured the best teams from around the world.

Of last weekend’s Levin Cup, Bromby said: “It wasn’t too bad. We were leading the last race and if we would have won we would have won the whole regatta but we were a bit unlucky. We came up a little short.”

This first regatta of 2007 in Miami was sailed in fine weather with light to moderate breeze.

Former Snipe World Champion, Augie Diaz and crew Federico Englehardt, just beat out Bromby and McNiven for first place.

Bromby was more happy about the ninth-place finish in November at the North American Star Championships which was also sailed off Miami.

“Actually there are about five or six regattas we will be sailing off Miami which is good value to us. We will not have to move the boat around and that is important when you only have limited funds,” said Bromby.

“The North Americans went quite well for us. Other than the British team the entire world was there and from our point of view we consider that we are right in the thick of it although there is always work to be done.”

McNiven came aboard as Bromby’s crew after Lee White and Martin Siese retired after four Olympic campaigns.

When McNiven began as Bromby’s crewmate the top sailor said that it would take time for he and McNiven to get used to each other. With these last two results it seems the partnership is working out very well.

“Our co-ordination is getting better every time we go out and to be fair, I could see us winning last weekend with a little bit of luck.”

Bromby left for Key West yesterday where he will sail in a regatta on board a 32-foot boat but then will meet up with McNiven in Miami next weekend where they will sail a small Star regatta before the Rolex Olympic Championships start on Monday, January 22. It continues until January 27 sailing on the waters of Biscayne Bay.

The Rolex regatta always brings together the world’s top Olympic class competitors. This will be the 18th Rolex regatta and it has proved to be a mainstay on the winter circuit for sailors who are campaigning for the next Olympic Games. The event is ranked by the International Sailing Federation (ISAF) as a Grade One event and features competition in 14 Olympic classes — 49er, 470 (men and women), Finn, Laser, Laser Radial, Neil Pryde RS:X (men and women), Star, Tornado and Yngling.

Organisers said this week that they expect more sailors than they have seen at the regattas for 10 years.