Pictures: Tony Cordeiro.

Peter Bromby (right) and Canadian Peter Hall battle it out during round robin action in Hamilton Harbour. Peter Bromby -- dogged by gear failure in the semis.

OVERSHADOWING all other local sailing events last week was the Nations Cup, Group E area qualifying regatta.

The Nations Cup, a world match racing series based on the entry of countries rather than individuals, and sponsored by Land Rover, is divided into a number of qualifying events aimed at producing representatives from 12 countries who will take on each other for the Nations Cup in Barcelona, Spain in September.

Bermuda was the site chosen for the Group "E'' qualifiers comprising, Canada, U.S.A., British Virgin Islands, U.S. Virgin Islands, Antiqua, Mexico and of course, Bermuda. Sailed in Etchells 22 keelboats loaned by the local E 22 Class Bermuda looked to have an excellent chance of placing well, perhaps even earning a place in the Spain finals.

Peter Bromby sailed for Bermuda (after beating Tim Patton for the honour in a hotly-contested local elimination) and by the end of the first day's round robin racing Bermuda's optimism seemed well justified as Bromby finished the first day with a 6-0 record.

The second day was not quite so good. Four wins, two losses -- and both of those by small margins. Certainly one of the most exciting races of the whole series was the final race on Friday, a resail between Bromby and Geoff Moore of the United States, where Bromby came from behind on the final downwind leg to lose by six inches.

Ten wins and two losses over two days gave Bromby the lead position after the two days of round robin racing and the opportunity to pick the skipper of his choice for the semi-finals; Geoff Moore from the USA, North America J 24 champion; Peter Hall from Canada, Soling champion; or Peter Holmberg of the US Virgin Islands, Olympic silver medallist in the Finn Class. None of them slouches, and all of them rapidly getting to understand the intricacies of the Etchells. Bromby chose Moore of the United States on the basis of Friday's racing and the weather report for heavy weather on the Saturday -- Bromby's forte.

The weather did not cooperate and neither did Moore! Saturday morning turned out to be light winds, leaving Bromby and drew Michael Tatem and Dennis Correia, at a weight disadvantage over their opponents.

This added to starts that were Bromby's worst of the week, and an unfortunate series of equipment breakdowns, saw Bermuda's hopes of a place in the Barcelona final disappear by lunchtime, as Moore won two straight.

In the other semi-final, Holmberg miscalculated the number of legs to be sailed offering a win to the Canadians who were about to go down 2-0.

Holmbergcame back to win the third race, although the Canadians, clearly behind opted to go through the finish line at the end of a downwind leg in the hope that the Race Committee had miscalculated the number of legs to be sailed. No such luck -- so the final was Holmberg v Moore which Holmberg won, clearly outsailing his competition, although there were a number of penalties involved, and once you are behind by a significant distance it is difficult to break through.

However, both Group E finalists get to go to Spain, so these two skippers will meet again in September. A good week of good sailing, proving once again that the confines of Hamilton Harbour are perfect for match racing both for competitors and spectators.

Last weekend was also the first of the Bermuda Offshore Cruising Association distance races for this year. Fifteen boats turned up for the start off Pompano Beach on the South Shore -- some with wicked headaches after a pre-race special the night before at the Sandy's Boat Club, a very good turnout considering how light the winds were.

The race along South Shore, round St. Catherine's Head and back along North Shore into Hamilton Harbour gave all boats the opportunity to find some sailing to their liking. In a thirty five mile straight line course four yachts in Class 2 finished within eight minutes of each other, and two in Cruising Class, Tamaruga and Scarlet Fever finished within seconds of each other.

Corrected results finishing order: Class 2: High Energy (Penny Simmons); Alexis (Skippy Lewis); No Name (Lee White); Tsunami (Buddy Rego); Taxi (Derek Ratteray); Morgan''s Cloud (John Harries); Wildcat (Peter Shrubb); Ein Cariad (Arthur Whalley); Sigil (Martin Pollard). Class 3: Four Flags (Brian Billings); Delphinus (Neil Couper); Shampoo (Mark Finnegan).

Cruising: Tamaruga (Warren Brown); Scarlet Fever (John Thompson); Simmer Down (Tom Johnson).

IMS: Tsunami (Buddy Rego); Wildcat (Peter Shrubb); Morgan's Cloud (John Harries).

A HECTIC weekend of race action includes fitted dinghy match racing in Mangrove Bay on Sunday, Coronation Cup racing at the same venue on Monday with the Comet Long Distance Race also on Monday with competitors racing from Somerset to St. George's this year.