Fortune deserted Peter Bromby yesterday and finally blessed the other Bermudian - at least somewhat - participating in the 2003 Rolex Miami Olympic Class Regatta.

Paula Lewin rose from 20th to ninth in the 24-boat Yngling class with four good races in Biscayne Bay, Florida, USA. Finishing third, eighth, ninth and 13th she now has 85 points from nine races, with her final two races today.

Bromby, by contrast, could not repeat the magical touch which he had found in the previous two days of Star-class competition. He finished 34th and eighth in the day's first and third races but suffered a black-flag disqualification in the second race and was penalised with 69 points. However, that result was his throw-out, leaving him with 67 points from seven races overall.

This means that the Bermudian - who had led up to yesterday - dropped to second as American Andy Lovell overtook him with 57 points. Vince Brun, also of the USA, is third on 75.

"When there are too many starts where they (officials) have to call the boats back, they will put up a black flag. Then, if you're over early in the next start, you're disqualified. You don't have a chance to redeem yourself.

"You have to take the number boats plus one for your points total. However, that would be his throw-out. You're allowed a throw-out after today," explained Barby MacGowan, the regatta's press officer.

Despite the day's outcome, Bromby and his crew, Lee White, are optimistic they can still win the 68-vessel class.

"Sure we can win. The margin (between first and second) is not a lot. We went from a dominant position to a very close race but we are sailing well.

"There are a lot of guys here having worse weeks than us," Bromby told The Royal Gazette last night.

Lewin, who up to yesterday was having a very bad week result-wise, will be trying to rise to about seventh place with a strong showing in her final two races today. Thoughts of winning evaporated in the first two days when she was penalised for two premature starts (over earlies).

"We decided a top-five finish would have been good and we moved up but we didn't have the best results today (yesterday). Given the points spread it's probably unreaIistic to get into the top five now. Maybe a seventh would be the best we could do," she reasoned.

American Betsy Alison regained the Yngling lead yesterday with 36 points overall, while her compatriot Sally Barkow moved up to second with 38 points. Katerina Giakoumidou is third on 41 points.

Lewin, who has already qualified for next year's Olympics in the Yngling, explained that an abundance of caution and a drop in confidence - brought on by the penalties - prompted her to restart yesterday's fourth and final race.

"In the last race we had the perfect start but due to our previous over-earlies and the way officials have been calling the line we decided that we might be judged over early so we went back and restarted.

"Normally when you have a good race committee which is accurate (in its calls) you can have a perfect start and have confidence to continue - we didn't have that anymore."

To worsen matters, they discovered afterwards that they had not been called for a premature start.

"That's frustrating but that's what happens when you have two over-earlies, and we have video footage showing that we were clearly not over on the first one. We went to the Protest Room to try and change that but it wasn't allowed. That just leaves you lacking in confidence.

"The race committees on our course have been inconsistent in how they are judging the line and we've been having a little misfortune with that. It may be unfortunate that we have been starting closer to the edge where the officials are and have been picked out more than boats that are in the middle," said the 31-year-old who is aiming for "safe starts" today.

Still she is pleased with how she and her crew - her twin sister, Peta, and Carola Cooper - have been sailing. The regatta is giving them the opportunity to improve on weaknesses and to enhance their crew work.

"The third (place, in yesterday's first race) was great and we sailed well to finish ninth in the second race. We are sailing well from behind.

"It could be a lot worse. In the final race, because we restarted, we were last and we finished 13th. That was a good race, all things considered.

"Obviously, we're disappointed because we're not winning but there's a long-term goal and, through all these things, we're learning a lot and we're getting to analyse things and ask ourselves 'what ifs' and how do we deal with certain situations. I think that's a positive," noted the skipper who is competing in a 24-boat fleet.