Royal Bermuda Yacht Club may be on course to win the Coronation Cup again after triumphed on the opening day of the Fitted Dinghy race season on Sunday with two first place finishes.

But showed that she will again provide some tough competition for the top prize.

The Royal Amateur Dinghy Club?s boat, helmed by Michael Lewis for the second year, had good height and speed in the day?s light conditions.

Lewis and his veteran crew, perhaps haunted by the memory of blowing a 12-point lead last summer, came out swinging and put the pressure on early. In the first race, with local dignitaries looking on from a large motor yacht, first place between the two boats changed hands three times before skippered again by Somers Kempe, wrestled free to claim a hard fought win.

That result, however, is now subject to a protest lodged by , who is claiming that there was contact when the two boats were engaged in a tacking duel which eventually saw break free.

There was no such drama in the second race after a big wind shift at the beginning of the race gave a huge advantage after which she held on to win. This, temporarily, evened up the points after finished second.

Before the third race, however, crew stood their rig up more, which seemed to alleviate the pointing problems they had suffered all day. From the beginning, Kempe sailed a smart, tactical race, keeping the RBYC boat in the better pressure to record his second and rather more convincing win of the day.

Although the young crews onboard and showed promise, they struggled to keep up with the more experienced crews of the lead boats.

The St George?s boat eventually had to retire during the second race after her number two rig came crashing down when one of the chain plates ripped through the deck. No injuries, however, were suffered and work was already underway that evening to repair the damage in time for the next scheduled race day in Mangrove Bay on June 14.