With just three of 11 races left and resigned to a position far closer to the bottom of the fleet than the top, Sara Lane Wright remains philosophical about her Olympic debut.

Sydney was always seen as just another buoy to sail around on the journey to Athens 2004.

And while it's proved far more difficult to negotiate than she ever imagined, the blonde Bermudian accepts she can only benefit from the experience.

If a silver medal at last summer's Pan-Am Games came as something of a surprise, then 33-year-old Wright is quickly discovering that such surprises don't always come gift-wrapped.

Amidst the shifty conditions of Sydney Harbour, she's managed no better than a 21st place finish in eight races so far and finds herself rooted in 25th place overall in a fleet of 27.

Her poor finishes, she insists, have all stemmed from poor starts. And despite making a number of tactical changes, little has improved.

"I'm disappointed and I'm frustrated,'' said Wright as she spent yesterday's rest day again analysing tactics with coach/husband Brett.

"Nothing really much has changed since the first day. It's still my starts that are really affecting my results.

"We've tried everything to change and haven't been able to. Now I'm just trying to deal with the result I have.

"Every day I thought I could improve but it just hasn't happened.'' Already, says Wright, her focus has changed to preparation for the Greece Games in four years' time.

"I guess you can't achieve everything in a short period of time,'' she adds.

"I'll just push on, just look ahead to my next year.

"Maybe I'll do as many regattas as possible, really tough ones. And not just in the Europe class but maybe also in Lasers where the guys are so much tougher to sail against.

"Maybe I can practise my starts to try to get past this so it won't be a problem in the future.

"I think everything here has boiled down to my poor starts. When I thought I'd had a good start, somebody below me has sailed above me and then taken my air. Then trying to tack off to get clean air, it's really been a problem.'' What Wright has also quickly learned is that in the Olympics, there are no easy races.

"Everybody's really pushing. It's not like where you have a regatta with 100 boats and they're all spread out. Here's it's very, very hard to sift through a fleet of 27 and get clean air. Everybody's very aggressive.

"But I knew what my goals were when I started and I think it's very important to go through these steps.

"I think if I make it to 2004 this experience will pay off tremendously.

Because I have such a determination to succeed, I know there are things I will do differently in my next four years.'' Wright is scheduled to sail races nine and ten today and the final race tomorrow.

Sara Lane Wright: Sydney just a stepping stone on the road to Athens.

SAILING SLG