national sailing coach Chuck Millican believes she has a great chance of success.

"I think she could win the regatta,'' said Millican, who will be accompanying Walker and two other young Bermudian sailors to Europe.

For 17-year-old Walker, who is sailing in the 420 Class with 15-year-old Carola Cooper, it will be the last year of competition in the youth age group.

She will be too old to compete next year.

But, having sailed with Doug DeCouto in Laser IIs as an inexperienced 15-year-old two years ago in Holland, Walker's last chance is undoubtedly her best.

Since the 1990 Youth Worlds -- her first overseas regatta -- Walker has accumulated a wealth of international experience.

Her unsuccessful Olympic campaign with Laura Butterfield saw her compete in the 470 Worlds, the Marblehead Olympic Classes Regatta, and the CACs in Mexico; going on to sail in last year's Pre-Olympics in Barcelona, and the prestigious CORK regatta.

Now, with all that experience behind her in the 470 Class, Walker is enjoying sailing the less complex 420s, which need a lot less adjustment with sail control.

She and Cooper have been busy perfecting their boat-handling technique in Hamilton Harbour this week, but said Walker: "You can't work out how to make the boat go fast unless you have someone to race against.'' Next Thursday, when the action gets under way in Vilamoura, near Faro, southern Portugal, there will be no shortage of competition, with Walker and Cooper's biggest threat likely to come from the Europeans.

"420s are very common in Europe,'' explained Walker, adding that the more-basic Laser II was more popular in North America.

This is the first year there has been a women's double-handed class at the Youth Worlds, and Walker and Cooper will be aiming to claim the title for Bermuda.

Also in Portugal will be 16-year-old Janice Gutteridge in the Europe Dinghy.

Her only previous overseas outing was over Christmas in Miami, where the trio of young Bermudians went to train.

Millican said there were a lot of youngsters now coming to the fore and he hoped to train a strong team for 1995 Youth Worlds, when the competition will be staged in Bermuda.

Blythe Walker and Ray DeSilva, who will be representing Bermuda in the 470 Class at the Barcelona Olympics this summer, are due back in the Island next week after some intensive training on the west coast of the United States.

The pair's latest outing was in the Olympic Classes Regatta at the Alamitos Bay Yacht Club in Santa Monica, California, where they enjoyed an impressive ninth-place finish in the opening race.

Using the regatta purely for training, they opted not to sail the final race of the six-race series but still finished 18th in the 31-strong fleet.

Wind conditions in California were light and flukey and not to the Bermudians' liking, but they used the regatta to their advantage by experimenting with sails and boat-handling under racing conditions.

The US enjoyed a clean sweep in the regatta, with Michael Sturman finishing first, John Shadden second and Morgan Reeser third.

Walker and DeSilva's next outing will be at the World Championships in Cadiz, Spain, later this month, when they be joined by other members of Bermuda's Olympic sailing team.

Two-time world champion Randy Smyth sailed to victory in the Tornado Class in Alamitos Bay at the weekend and now looks odds-on to claim the US berth in Barcelona.

All he has to do is put in a good performance at this weekend's Olympic Trials in Marina Del Rey, Los Angeles.

And, if he succeeds, it will be great news for Bermuda's Olympic hopefuls Reid and Jay Kempe, who have spent many hours training with the American ace and would benefit from his presence in Spain.

Smyth and his crewman Keith Notary finished just ahead of the Canadian duo of David Sweeney and Kevin Smith in Santa Monica -- just as they had in Houston last month, when the Kempes booked their ticket to Barcelona.

Sweeney, too, has worked closely with the Kempes in recent months, and hopes to continue to do so during his Olympic campaign.

The Canadian finished less than three points behind his friend and rival Smyth last weekend, which suggests that the pair should feature prominently in Spain this summer.

IN SEARCH OF GOLD -- Elizabeth Walker, right, and crew Carola Cooper will carry Bermuda's hopes in the 420 Class next week.