yesterday as Contest III , skippered by skipper Hughie Watlington, moved to within 23 points of the leader Challenger II after first and second place finishes in St. George's Harbour.

Three sinkings -- two by Elizabeth II -- and an extremely competitive second race provided plenty of excitement for the sizeable spectator fleet.

Under bright skies with southerly winds ranging from 7-9 knots Contest -- and all the others -- were blown out of the water by Challenger during the first race for the Trott Cup.

Olympian Paul Fisher, back at the helm of the Somerset boat following his trip to the Summer Games, announced his return with an emphatic victory -- winning by almost two minutes over the second place boat in a time of 40 minutes, 20 seconds. Such was the domination by Fisher that as early as the second leg it was clear that the battle would be for the minor places.

Indeed Echo and Contest fought `tooth and nail' before the latter was able to surge ahead and cross the line 17 seconds ahead of the Somerset boat skippered by Martin Siese.

Such was not the case for Billy White and his crew aboard Elizabeth which did not finish, sinking on the second windward leg. Fourth place went to Victory IV (Michael Oatley), who at one stage stood second but dropped back after continuing problems with the spinnaker. Bloodhound (Bill McNiven) was never in the race and trailed in fifth.

Trouble surrounded the start of the second race for the St. George's Dinghy and Sports Club Cup as Victory and Elizabeth tangled resulting in the sinking of the St. George's boat and a subsequent call for a restart.

Once away cleanly on the restart Elizabeth grabbed the early lead and held a slim advantage until the last leg before succumbing to the relentless pursuit by Contest and Echo .

Contest (40:19) ended up 10 seconds ahead of Echo (40:29), while Elizabeth (40:40) sank barely having crossed the finish line.

Making up the numbers were Victory ; Challenger , which looked like dropping out at one stage; and Bloodhound .

The overall standings have Challenger in front with 471 points followed by Contest (441 ), Echo (423 ), Victory (34), Elizabeth (23) and Bloodhound (221 ).

BATTLING IT OUT -- Coronation Cup rivals Challenger (left) and Contest.