in the Laser Radials and Laser classes at the Pan-Am Games in Winnipeg in July.

It is an outstanding achievement for Luthi, winner of the Laser National Championships for the past two years, following a return to the sport in March after a serious bike accident last November.

Wright placed third in a regatta in Houston, Texas, to beat off the claims of fellow Bermudian Carola Cooper, who finished seventh in the fleet of 20.

Luthi, meanwhile, finished seventh in a fleet of 43 boats to oust Wright's husband Brett, who came tenth, from the running.

The two-day regatta was designated by the Bermuda Sailing Association and Bermuda Olympic Association as a qualifying event and all four sailors had reached the qualifying standard set down by the organisations.

Wright explained: "When more than one person wants to represent Bermuda in the same class, there has to be a sail-off to decide who will go.'' She finished ahead of Cooper in all but one of the five races to end with a total of 16 points to her rival's 23 and now intends to practise hard for the major competition, which gets underway in Canada on July 23.

She will be training on the water with Stevie Dickinson, the 1993 CAC Games silver medallist and winner of the Snipes class in this year's International Race Week.

However, she did not rule out the possibility of flying to Canada early to get some experience of the conditions in the Games city.

"I'm not sure about the conditions; a lot of people have said different things about them and the only way to be sure is to go up there. I think there are a couple of weekend regattas there,'' she said.

Otherwise, Wright, who competed for Bermuda at last year's CAC Games in Venezuela, will be concentrating on staying focused and her physical fitness -- which includes strenuous workouts away from the water.

"You need to be extremely fit,'' she added. "You're never quite sure what the length to the first weather mark is going to be. Some courses can be quite long. You have to be physically strong and agile at the same time.'' To that end she has been doing three workouts a week with Sally Wombwell, a personal trainer for International Fitness Pros, at the Olympic Club.

Wombwell said: "We have been trying to do some specific stuff with her in regards to the way she moves about the boat, but a lot of it is just general conditioning to get her fitness level up.'' Luthi's accident, in which he was knocked from his bike when the back gate of a truck swung loose onto his side of the road, left him with four broken ribs and a broken left wrist.

The injury put him out of action until March and forced him out of the World Championships in Australia in January.

"I was in a cast for 12 weeks and a brace for another six,'' the 32-year-old, who has been sailing Lasers for five years, recalled.

Ironically, one of the first people on the scene of the incident was road runner Jay Donawa. Donawa, who two months later suffered an awful injury of his own when he stumbled and broke his collar bone at the start of the International 10K, has training in emergency procedures and was able to administer first aid to the suffering sailor.

Luthi remains extremely grateful for that help but fears the injury may have set him back a little.

"It has limited me in the sense that I know that one guy on the US team who I was pretty close to in November has advanced because he went to the Worlds and has been sailing a number of other regattas since.'' However, in Houston, Luthi took advantage of the four races on the first day to build a five point lead over Wright.

But he claimed it didn't really start out as a head-to-head between the two.

"I think initially you do your best and see how things shape up,'' said Luthi. "But I had a five-point lead going into the second day and it was doubtful whether we were going to get more than two races that day because of the weather conditions.

"So I thought if I was close to Brett I would want to stay with him. Anything can happen in those flukey conditions and on the last leg he was beating me by one boat at one point. We were kind of match racing towards the end.

"But ultimately he would have had to make up several places on me.'' Luthi is planning to attend the Atlantic Coast Regatta in New Jersey and the Canadian National Championships in Nova Scotia as part of his build-up to Winnipeg. He will also follow a training regime of squash, cycling and swimming to enhance his aerobic fitness.