Bermuda's fluctuating fortunes produced another mixed bag of results in the Olympic regatta on the waters off Savannah yesterday.

But on a day when another violent mid-afternoon thunderstorm -- the third this week -- sent yachtsmen dashing for cover, it was the Island's lone female representative, Paula Lewin, who emerged with most credit.

While medal hopefuls Peter Bromby and Lee White saw their chances of Games glory slip further away in the blustery conditions, Lewin climbed up the Europe dinghy class standings with a gutsy performance which left her still in medal contention.

Laser veteran Malcolm Smith showed early signs of improvement before freefalling to the rear of the fleet and now faces a mountain to climb just to fulfil his ambition of a final placing in the top half.

Both the Europes and Lasers completed their two-race schedule but the squall curtailed much of the day's action, including race five for the Stars, as organisers called all the fleets home with the wind gusting over 30 knots.

For Bermuda, the day belonged to Lewin.

The 25-year-old bronze medallist at last year's Pan-Ams placed sixth in race three in the fleet of 28 only to follow that up with a disappointing 15th in race four, which saw at least three boats capsize as the wind strengthened.

But having entered the day 16th overall after a 20th and ninth on Tuesday, Lewin now lies 12th with seven races still remaining .

"That was an excellent result for Paula in the first race,'' commented national coach Chuck Millican.

"It's a shame about the second race, that slipped her back a bit. But as I said at the start, anything in the top half of this fleet has to be considered very good.'' Perhaps the worst news for Lewin was that first day pacesetters Kristine Roug, the two-time world champion from Denmark and America's Cup star Courtenay Becker-Dey continued to dominate proceedings and threaten to turn the battle for gold and silver into a two horse race.

The chase for bronze remains wide open, however, with Lewin very much in the hunt, 21 points behind the current third-placed sailor, Great Britain's Shirley Robertson, and well aware that a string of top 10 finishes could catapult her up the rankings.

The Bermudian got off to a flyer in yesterday's opening race, rounding the first mark right behind Roug and Becker-Dey in sixth place. She had dropped to ninth by the second mark, but quickly made up lost ground to regain sixth and climbed as high as fifth with just a few hundred yards remaining before being pipped by seven seconds by New Zealander Sharron Ferris.

Margriet Matthijsse of the Netherlands led from start to finish to earn her first `bullet' but Becker-Dey and Roug were close behind, second and third respectively.

Lewin couldn't duplicate her fast start in race four, never managing to work her way into the top ten and eventually having to settle for 15th.

Robertson grabbed her first win but Roug was second and Becker-Dey fourth.

The poor starts that have plagued Bromby and White all week were in evidence again yesterday as another sluggish response to the gun left them wallowing in the 13th place around the first mark.

They improved to tenth by the third mark and maintained that position until the end for a third top ten finish in four races and now lie 11th overall on 48 points.

But with Australians Colin Beashel and David Giles enjoying a purple patch, claiming their third win in succession, the gap between the medal contenders and the rest continues to widen.

The Aussies now have 14 points from four races, the defending Olympic champions Mark Reynolds and Hal Haenel of the US 15 points following yesterday's fifth and Brazilians Torben Grael and Marcelo Ferreira 16 points after a seventh. Each country can drop two results in the 11-race series.

"Peter's going to have to have some good races tomorrow and the next day to pull himself back into contention,'' said Millican.

Malcolm Smith may have thought it was to be his day as, like Lewin, he enjoyed a superb start, rounding the first mark in seventh place in the huge fleet of 56, just seconds behind the leaders.

But it was all downhill from there on. By the second mark, the 37-year-old had dropped to 12th and at every subsequent mark lost more ground, plunging from 12th to 19th to 34th to 40th and finally 41st over the finish line.

Smith struggled again in race four which saw seven of the fleet fail to finish. But at the end he crossed the line 32nd and after four races lies 41st overall.

Stefan Warkalla of Germany (2nd and 3rd yesterday), Norway's Peer Moberg (9th and 1st) and Brazilian Robert Scheidt (3rd and 6th) currently fill the three medal positions.

Earlier Smith learned his placing of 42nd in Tuesday's first race had improved to 40th following protests. With another seven protests still to be decided he may be hoisted even higher.