Syndicate-owned Echo will spend the summer in a shed at Sandys Boat Club, reducing the fleet for the 1999 Fitted Dinghy season to just five.

Echo , which sails out of Sandys Boat Club, was again missing from Sunday's two races in Granaway Deep because of crew problems, having missed the season-opening races on May 24 in St. George's for the same reason.

Yesterday, club commodore Martin Siese confirmed that Echo was having problems with getting a team together. Last year's skipper, Somers Kempe, is now crewing on Contest .

"The team from last year has somewhat disbanded,'' explained Siese, who came out himself to help the team on a few occasions last year. He even took over as skipper for a couple of races in September when Kempe returned to school.

"He's still at university and it's kind of hard to come back and immediately pick things up. It's much easier if you're here for the year,'' added Siese.

"I was only an occasional sailor in the team last year, and even then just a fill-in one because I've got various commitments around the boat club. I would need to get some of those things out of the way before I went back into a full-time campaign.'' Unlike Challenger , which is owned by the club, Echo is owned by a group of members.

"We've been trying to find someone to lead the team. Unfortunately the people we had last year weren't so interested in continuing this year. Somers had it for two years and prior to that it was Carola Cooper.'' Siese admitted that the job was very time consuming.

"There are a couple of crew members who would come out but we would probably need a squad of eight to 10 to campaign the boat well,'' said the commodore.

"It involves a fair amount of organisation...organising a crew, getting them all to show up for practices. There are plenty of other sailing opportunities with less work.

"People may argue with me on this but our boat's potential is probably a little less than the other dinghies. Ours is heavier and a bit bigger than the other boats and there are times when we are not that competitive and it can be hard to keep a team together.'' Indications were that Echo would attempt to make her first appearance of the season on the Queen's Birthday holiday on June 21 in Mangrove Bay when the club hosted two races for the Gilbert Bowl and Cambridge Bowl. Siese said that probably would not happen.

"The decision has been made to keep it in the shed for this year,'' said Siese.

"It's unlikely that it's going to come out at all.

"There are a few financial reasons. We would need to renew our insurance policy to go out racing and also there are some expenses involved in racing in terms of sharing the cost of the start boat. If we do any racing we would be liable for our share of that cost.'' Elizabeth , skippered by Malcolm Smith, picked up two wins on Sunday in the BAA Cup and Whitney Cup during racing in Granaway Deep. Second in the first race was William White's Port Royal while Contest (Martin Mello) was third, Victory IV (David Hillier) fourth and Challenger , sailed by Paula Lewin, fifth.

Challenger also trailed the fleet in the second race of the day, while Contest picked up a second place behind Elizabeth . Port Royal was third and Victory IV fourth.

of the day's races. The fleet has been reduced to just five boats following a decision not to race Echo this season.