Bermuda?s Olympic Star Class skipper Peter Bromby will defend his Bacardi Cup title early next month in Miami, Florida.

Bromby ? who picked up an Achievement Award at Thursday?s Sports Ministry ceremony ? enjoyed another highly successful season last year sailing on foreign waters, a campaign which saw the Bermudian skipper capture the Bacardi Cup and Rolex Miami Olympic Regattas in the US before again impressing on the European circuit in Holland and Germany.

Those sterling performances catapulted the Royal Bermuda Yacht Club and three-time Olympian skipper into the number two spot in the world in his respective class. Bromby currently has 4800 points, 199 points adrift of Sweden?s Fredrik Loof. Ireland?s Mark Mansfield sits in third with 4754 points.

And Bromy can?t wait to get going again in the prestigious Bacardi Cup Regatta, which begins on March 6 and concludes six days later.

?Things are going great. We have spent the last couple of months experimenting and testing some new masts and trying to select the best equipment for the games (Olympics),? said the imposing athlete.

?We are pretty happy with the way things are coming along. We have one more mast to look at and then hopefully we can move on from the experimental mode in the final lead up to the games and start turning in some top results again.?

Bromby is scheduled to compete in the US in early spring and then intensify Olympic preparations in May at the Spa Regatta in Holland and Kiel Week in Germany before moving on to Athens to acquaint himself with local race conditions.

However, the reigning KF Trimingham Etchells champion will not be in Bermuda in April to defend his title during International Race Week as he is scheduled to be overseas competing at the time.

A veteran of three Olympic Games, much of the Island?s hopes for success rest heavily upon Bromby?s shoulders as a ?consistent? 2003 campaign has made him one of the favourites to challenge for top honours in Athens.

?I don?t think we have ever been in a position going into the Olympics considered to be amongst the favourites,? he added.

?That is very exciting for sports in Bermuda. But while the pressure will be there, I can also call on my experience to perform on the day.?