Controversy reigned when fitted dinghy racing took place in St George's Harbour at the weekend.

The second race of the day had to be abandoned after a series of incidents involving the stake boat Clevelander, home to the race committee chairman.

As the boats converged on Clevelander for the start of the second race at 3.00 p.m. it was found that it had lost its anchor line.

Unable to repair this, race committee chairman Garry Roman proposed to start the race anyway following which the Gabriella, a motor boat at anchor further down wind, would serve as the leeward stake boat.

A number of races have been cancelled this year due to stormy weather and due to this the skippers agreed to such an unorthodox start.

Without an anchor line, however, it was becoming difficult to keep Clevelander head to wind in order to have a fair start in the shifting breeze.

A window of opportunity presented itself and Roman gave the order to commence hauling off the stake boat.

As the boats began, the breeze shifted again. Port Royal, who was hauling from the back of the boat became entangled with Clevelander, ripping out the side stay.

The contest was by now well underway in clear breeze with Victory and Elizabeth close behind.

Port Royal's skipper Willie White and crew protested that the start of the race had been so biased that it caused the accident.

According to Roman a restart was considered, but White argued that while Port Royal would have liked a restart they would be unable to compete effectively with another rig given the optimal number two rig was not immediately repairable.

The St George's Dinghy Club's race committee then conferred and decided to abandon the race after the third beat to weather, at which point Contest was leading by a significant margin followed by Elizabeth, Victory and Challenger.

The decision to abandon the race on such grounds proved a disappointment to other skippers and crews.

While there clearly had been a shift in the breeze, it still raised the question as to why Port Royal chose to haul in the first place instead of asking for a delay.

In the normal course of action it would have been Port Royal's prerogative to protest the race committee if they thought the race was unfair.

Contest's skipper Martin Mello has asked that a protest committee rule on the race committee's decision.

Contest crew member Cameron Hill, who lodged the protest on Mello's behalf, said that one outcome hoped for was that the race would be made up on another race day.

Earlier in the day the first race saw Contest punching out ahead of the fleet on a starboard tack.

Port Royal tacked inside and the two boats charged out to the right side of the course.

Contest's brief lead evaporated as Port Royal, already pointing higher, began to be lifted even higher inside her. As both boats tacked back, Port Royal was clearly ahead and went on to build on her lead, Contest forced to protect second place from Victory and Challenger. Elizabeth sank.

On a happier note Bermuda's Olympic sailor Peter Bromby, crewing Port Royal, had to be whisked away from the venue to attend the birth of his baby daughter.