Sara Lane Wright didn't know whether to laugh or cry.

In the end her fighting spirit shone through after an opening day on the water in which her worst fears turned into her worst nightmare.

A second-from-last finish in the first race followed by a third-from-last in the next left the plucky 31-year-old in a state of shock as she ended the day in 26th position among the 27-boat Europe Dinghy fleet.

Just a year after snatching a silver medal at the Pan-Am Games in Winnipeg, Wright appeared on course to spring another surprise in Sydney Harbour after a series of encouraging practice sessions.

But suddenly when it mattered most, it all went horribly wrong.

Courageously, the blonde Bermudian managed to put on a brave face as she headed back to the Games Village, her confidence shattered.

"Am I upset?'' she said with a nervous giggle. "Oh God, yes! I've had a little cry already and I'm going to have another one later on.

"But you know what? It can only get better. How can I not laugh.'' Fortunately, Wright will be able to drop two races in the 11-race regatta and she's hoping her two discards will come from Wednesday's disastrous opening day.

But she's aware she now has a mountain to climb -- already having posted 51 points, 44 more than leader Shirley Robertson of Great Britain who began with a third and a fourth yesterday.

Others also floundered in the 10-12 knot winds, reigning Olympic champion Kristine Rouge of Denmark slumping to 21st in the second race after an opening finish of fifth.

Wright, however, had no problem identifying what went wrong.

"It may sound really crazy, but it all came down to my starts,'' she explained.

"I talked to (husband/coach) Brett about it. Normally what I've been doing with these girls is just starting off to one end wherever there's been a space and I've had to go with my instincts and do that even if one end's favoured.

"At one point today I had a space below me just before the start but then someone just edged me out. They're so aggressive, I guess these girls have been sailing so long, they all want to do so well. And it's really hard to get a good start.'' Rectifying the problem, admitted Wright, wouldn't be easy.

"It's really frustrating when you work really, really hard to get out there and in the first minute, actually the first 30 seconds, it's all decided for you what's going to happen.

"At one point in the second race I was last and I was almost half a leg away from the next boat and I just kept on fighting upwind and got some really good shifts and got back in there.'' Wright, who has spent more than a month in Sydney preparing, said she couldn't blame the conditions or her boat.

"It wasn't the conditions and nothing to do with my equipment. My boat is just perfect,'' she said. "I have great boat speed and my technique and tactics are pretty good. But if you don't just get off the line, these girls are all fighting and they all want it really badly too.

"You can't have a bad start. It's as simple as that.'' Would she now be more aggressive in races three and four today? "Well I thought I was being aggressive,'' she laughed. "I was really pushing it at the start, one girl was even going to protest me. But there was nothing I could have done about the situation because they were all so aggressive.'' However, she will employ a different start tactic today.

"I'm going to try and start down from the pack and actually I'm not going to set up until one minute to go and I'm hoping that will help me. God, whatever I do it can't be any worse than today.'' SAILING SLG