It?s sink or swim for Bermuda?s Yngling aspirations.

After two topsy-turvy days on the seas off the Greek coastal resort of Glyfada, Paula Lewin and her crew of Peta Lewin and Christine Patton came face-to-face with the harsh reality yesterday that their medal ambitions were hanging in the balance at the Summer Olympics.

Two top-ten finishes ? a fourth place on Saturday and sixth yesterday ? were cancelled out by two poor races at the Sailing Centre which earned them a 15th and 14th position, the former on Saturday and the other yesterday.

?We didn?t sail particularly well in those two races and it?s tough in this fleet when you get behind. There?s not a lot of chances to pass and we, in fact, went a little backwards at times,? acknowledged the 33-year-old.

Overall, the Bermudian trio are perilously poised on 39 points after four of 11 races and are 12th out of 16 teams battling to see their countries? flags raised at the end of the regatta. Britain, skippered by Shirley Robertson, lead the standings with an impressive low score of 11, posting a fifth, fourth and two firsts thus far.

To add to the Island?s woes, their Russian rivals seemed to have ignored a protest which Lewin lodged in yesterday?s second race (the fourth race in total) and did not undertake the mandatory penalty turn but instead went on to claim second place in that outing and are second overall on 24 points.

However, Bermuda protested in writing as soon as the day?s sailing was done.

?The Russians hit us at the start of the fourth race. It?s illegal to hit another boat and she (skipper Ekaterina Skudina) was in the wrong. I hailed a protest and she never took her penalty (turn) to exonerate herself so I?m going through with a formal protest on land to try and disqualify her from the race,? explained Lewin.

Sailing rules, she noted, stipulated that if there?s contact between boats ?somebody needs to do a turn and if you don?t, you can both get thrown out?.

?So it?s to protect myself as well,? she elaborated.

There were, though, greater worries for the head of the Bermudian team as she contemplated their indifferent showing at the Games.

?The fourth race was very disappointing. We came off the starting line ? after the Russian incident ? and were pretty much winning the race. It was a beautiful start and we had a great first half of the beat and then it just started going downhill from then.

?It was a really tricky course with big pressure lines and we missed a few really important pressure lines and ended up not in a good spot,? she recalled, not looking happy at all. Their first race of the day, by contrast, was great.

?We had a good comeback and ended up sixth. It?s only four races in the series and we have a lot more to go but we need to start having more consistent races.?

Saturday?s results mirrored yesterday?s with one being exceptionally good and the other bad. It leaves them in a do-or-die position but they are still capable of winning, she insisted.

Now languishing in the bottom half of the fleet, Lewin, will have to produce a string of excellent finishes to dramatically improve their medal prospects.

?I haven?t looked at the math but we figured if you averaged a fifth place you would be doing pretty well.

?We have a 14th and 15th ? you can drop two so we can still potentially win the regatta ? but we?ve got to put in some firsts, seconds and thirds. At this point I would like to be sitting a little more comfortably with more than two good races under our belts.?

Asked if she had identified any flaws in their sailing that were costing them, Lewin was almost lost for words.

?I don?t think it?s anything we haven?t done. It?s frustrating. Yesterday (Saturday) our starts weren?t bad but they weren?t great either. Today we had two good starts so we fixed that area of weakness.

?I don?t really know. I don?t know,? she conceded, her voice trailing off.

Coach Chris Winter is not daunted by his charges? predicament and even complimented them.

?I think they have done pretty well so far but they can do better. We?ve had some problems but I think we can overcome them and we can sail with the best here.

?We haven?t taken ourselves out of the regatta yet but obviously we need better results to get a medal and that?s what we came here for.

?I?m optimistic. Nobody has it all figured out yet. The girls who were winning yesterday (Saturday) were 14th and 12th in the races today,? he pointed out, citing the Frenchwomen who dropped from first place with five points to sixth with 31.

The sailing veteran ? who is American but lives in Finland ? termed the venue ?a very difficult place to sail?. That, he added, gives everyone a chance of success.