Bermuda's Jesse Kirkland remains in contention for the North American Optimist Championship title after another inspired day on the water yesterday during which he won two of four races.

Kirkland, fourth at the recent Optimist Worlds in Texas, went into the day with a one-point lead in the 113-boat fleet.

And after four more races in the Great Sound yesterday - seven in total have now been completed in the 12-race regatta - the 14-year-old had slipped slightly to second place.

But he trails Argentinian Facundo Alonso by just two points - 27 to 29 - with their nearest rivals now 24 points adrift.

Alonso had finishes of eighth, sixth, second and first yesterday while Kirkland won the first two races of the day before dropping to an 11th and a 19th, although he will likely be able to discard the latter.

Bermuda's Edward Thompson moved from 12th overall up to 10th on 65 points while another local, Sean Bouchard, made a big leap up to 24th after winning the third of yesterday's four races.

The individual regatta now takes a two-day break, resuming with at least three more races on Friday, with the focus today shifting to the team event.

Event director Paul Doughty admitted yesterday light conditions had tested the fleet, particularly some of Bermuda's youngsters who are competing in the biggest regatta of their lives. "They were really testing conditions today," said Doughty.

"You have to have tactical knowledge, you have to understand wind shifts in light air and it's just so demanding on these young sailors. Some of them naturally have it . . . for others it takes a while for them to learn.

"Of course, it suited Jesse (Kirkland) just fine. He's been like that since he was nine-years-old. He just knows where the wind is.

"For others it's part of the learning curve and it's good that we have a regatta of this size in Bermuda. They probably wouldn't go to a regatta of this level overseas, although they did have to qualify for this event."

Organisers now hope to sail three more races on Friday with the final two on Saturday, weather permitting.

Today Bermuda, Mexico and USA will all have three teams of four in the team event which gets underway in Hamilton Harbour at 10.00 a.m.

Argentina and Brazil will enter two teams and Japan one while a Rest of the World team from smaller countries has also been formed.