International Race Week a family affair with both on the verge of claiming championships today.

While Bill has claimed much of the spotlight for his exploits among the International One Design class, his `better half' has been quietly making a name for herself among the Lasers.

The female Shore currently leads the fleet by three points -- excluding any dropped race -- ahead of main challenger Andreas Lewin heading into today's final set of races.

She has mirrored her husband in terms of consistency, finishing among the top three in every outing to upstage her male counterparts, including Bermuda's Malcolm Smith, Christian Luthi and Brett Wright as well as the other notable, Peter Shrubb.

Yesterday saw Shore able to overcome trying conditions to finish third on a day where rain and wind gusts upward of 25 knots decimated a great portion of the smaller boats, causing several breakdowns.

The race was won by Wright, with Smith finally showing glimpses of his true self in crossing the line second.

"I've just had a ball here, this is my vacation and I love sailing against these guys,'' said Shore, a gold medallist at the 1988 Olympics in the 470 class. "The key has been sailing consistently and conservatively.

"Today I was just hanging on by my toenails and praying like hell I didn't capsize and just get around the race course. It was survival and playing the wind shifts.'' Still, the major concern of several locals has been the sudden demise of Smith, who until yesterday found himself floundering well down the fleet with a seventh-place finish and a disqualification attached to his name.

However, Smith assured that all was well and that he would be out gunning for the top spot when racing resumes.

"Well, I had some hard luck on Tuesday with a PMS, which basically hurt my standings,'' said Smith, who competed in the Snipe Class last year. "I was unsure at the start whether I was over -- it was so close -- I sailed the whole race and came from third to win the race and then found out I was over the line.

"I've sailed a pretty good regatta overall. Monday's race was kind of light and shifty and I just got caught on the wrong side of the shift.

"I need to make up six points on Lynne Shore and if the conditions stay like this it's going to be tough to get in three races tomorrow.

"To get six points in three races shouldn't be that difficult, but if you just get one or two in she's got it wrapped up.'' Meanwhile, American Bill Buckles and Donny Martinborough of the Bahamas have all but wrapped up the Snipe and Sunfish classes respectively.

Both have recorded three consecutive wins and nothing short of a natural disaster would appear to stand between them and the titles.

Buckles, with crew Jon Disch, leads second-placed competitor Lisa Foulke-Pline, while Jerry Thompson currently stands third.

"I feel very lucky,'' said a modest Buckles. "It's so unusual, the first two days we were on our knees in the boat trying to balance it because the air was so light...today we were on our knees praying for survival.'' Martinborough once again showed his expertise, and holds sizable leads over Posy Seifert and Harry League.

Taking advantage of problems incurred by overnight leader Rudy Bailey in the Comets, Gladwin Lambert assumed the mantle ahead of Mark Hess and Josh Gildman.

Among the bigger boats, Tim Patton once again found the heavy air to his liking, surging to a pair of firsts in the Etchells and doing likewise among the IODs was Bill Shore.

Patton now trails leader Tim Lynch by one-and-a-quarter points, while Shore is within a whisker of his second straight overall IOD title.

John Alofsin stood as the champion in the J24 fleet as he completed a wire-to-wire victory while Pease Glaser made it four wins in a row among the Tornado fleet.