refuse one gift and you can't expect any more.

Bromby had jokingly offered the 12th ranked Briton a case of rum if he failed to finish top of the qualifying group, thus avoiding the Bermudian eighth seed in the first championship round.

However, Law, unseeded this year because of a late entry, won three races on Monday to go to the head of the qualifiers and set up the best-of five meeting today.

Bromby said bluntly yesterday: "He certainly won't be getting the case of rum now.'' But he suggested meeting the former world number two, who has three Bermudians making up his crew, at such an early stage of the tournament could be a blessing in disguise.

Bromby, who finished fifth in yesterday's Bermuda Commercial Bank challenge for seeded skippers, said: "If you want to win, you're probably going to have to face him at some time in the tournament, and if you can get past him it's going to be a great confidence booster. You can go all the way.

"The harder they come, the harder they fall -- hopefully.'' Asked to pinpoint what could be the decisive factor in their contest in Hamilton Harbour, Bermuda's top sailor added: "I think we've got to get off well on the line against him and just sail smart after that, cut out our mistakes.'' Bromby has recently returned from the Star World Championships in Italy and found yesterday's going a little tough in relatively breezy conditions.

"We haven't had much heavy air practice,'' he said, by way of mitigation.

"Before I went to the Star Worlds we had a bunch of practices in pretty much all light air; not that today was that heavy, but it was heavier than anything we practised in. So it was nice to get out there in some breeze.'' Bromby is just one of four Bermudians in this year's championship -- the others are Paula Lewin, Glenn Astwood and Adam Barboza -- and he agreed that offered a good chance of some local glory.

"To be quite honest I think that every year I come in here I have a good shot,'' he said. "I don't think it's impossible for us to go all the way.

"But it's getting tougher because I used to have a boat speed advantage, I used to know the boats a little better than the other guys, but the good ones have been coming here for so long now, that that edge gets a little bit smaller each year. I'm not doing nearly so much match racing as they are, so it's hard to keep up.'' Lewin, meanwhile, who finished seventh out of eight competitors in yesterday's challenge, has endured a difficult time of late, the world's second ranked woman getting just a sixth place in the recent Knickerbocker Cup in New York.

But she didn't believe that would have a lasting effect on her confidence for the Gold Cup.

"It was a different regatta, it was the first time we'd sailed J-105s and we had a lot of light air. We were a little unfortunate with a few of the races -- we were winning some which we then lost.

"I think Peter hit the nail on the head about today. We've been practising in light air a lot. There are timing changes and everything kind of shifts up a gear in the heavier winds.'' Her opponent today is young American Andrew Horton, who finished with a 5-2 record in the qualifiers and beat Lewin over two races in New York.

Astwood, meanwhile, takes on fourth seed Bjorn Hansen today while Adam Barboza has a tough outing against Swedish third seed Magnus Holmberg.

Markus Wieser, ranked six in the world and top seed in this year's Gold Cup, showed he was pumped up for this week's competition, winning all five races in the Bermuda Commercial Bank challenge to take the first prize of $3,000.

Rarin' to go: Bermuda skipper Glenn Astwood (above) faces fourth seed Bjorn Hansen as the championship round of the Gold Cup gets underway in Hamilton Harbour today.