Local sailors continued to enjoy and take full advantage of superb conditions on day two of 2002 International Race Week yesterday.

Presented with ideal 18-knot westerly winds, Bermuda's Jon Corless (J-24s), Malcolm Smith (Lasers), Rudy Bailey (Comets) and Olympian Peter Bromby (Etchells) made the most of the blustery, whitewater conditions to take significant strides in their quest for top honours. All four led or shared the lead in their class by the end of the day.

Bermuda's Stevie Dickinson is second place in the Snipe class while compatriot Tim Patton lies second among the Etchells.

Corless, who replaced Canadian Sean McDermott at the top of the J-24 leaderboard, described yesterday's weather as "fabulous" and heaped praise on his crew's performance.

"All of the local guys did a good job out there today, but it's still too early to celebrate," said Corless. "There's still a lot of racing ahead of us, and of course, plenty of time for things to go wrong."

In Etchells action, Bromby emerged as the winner in that class's sole race.

However, despite picking up his second win in as many days, the tall Bermudian remained tied with American John Kennerson.

"It was a great race," noted Bromby. "We had kind of a three-boat battle going between John (Kennerson), Tim (Patton) and myself and, in fact, the only mark that we led at was when we crossed the finish.

"It was always very close. For the most part we were within four lengths of one another, so it was a very close race as we were all pretty much travelling at the same speed.

"Kennerson has been coming here for a long time and he also has a good team with him. I think all three of the top boats have good teams and at the end of the day what's going to make the difference is the teamwork on each boat."

Kennerson, who put up a good fight against Bromby last year, has once again served notice that it will not be all smooth sailing for the decorated local sailor.

"It was another great day," he said afterwards. "We had some very tight racing between Timmy, Bromby and ourselves. "We changed leads a couple of times, we had the lead at the last windward leg, but we came out hot on one of the jibes and gave Peter just enough room to get by. But on the whole it was great racing and a lot of fun."

Norwegian Jan Petter Roed leads the International One Design (IOD) fleet after sailing away with a first and a second place finish yesterday.

Meanwhile, at nearby Spanish Point, an armada of dinghies battled it out, protected somewhat from the wild conditions by Mills Creek.

In the Lasers, Malcolm Smith enjoyed another fine outing to remain in front of compatriot Brett Wright.

"It was great racing out there today," said Smith "But it's way too early in the regatta to celebrate. Besides, sooner or later Brett is going to make a charge."

West End Sailboat Club sailor Rudy Bailey was victorious in the only Comet class race of the day after the first was scrapped due to a lack of contestants.

"We weren't sure about the start time and Spanish Point Boat Club kept calling it (race) off," said Bailey. "For us to get 11 boats overboard and down there (starting line) on time, we just couldn't make it for the first race.

"We just got caught out with the wind blowing so strong.

"Once they gave us the signal, we said hey! let's get cracking, but it was just impossible to make it to the start for the first race."

Bermudian Howard Simmons sits in second place.

In the Snipes, defending champion Stevie Dickinson endured a bitter/sweet day.

"Actually, Tai Trott (crew) sailed quite well today," he said. "Both races we led and through a couple of errors on my behalf in not handling the boat the way I should have we lost out and came second both times.

"But today was a beautiful day out there.

"I have good boat speed and I am competing extremely well, so I still think that I have a good shot at winning this."

Snipe leader Eric Reinke is just enjoying the experience and already the native of Washington DC is looking forward to returning to the Island next year.

"It's really nice to sail in a place where there is a great breezes," said Reinke. "There were a lot of good tactics going on and you couldn't just concentrate on boat speed. We were mixing it up a bit and in both races at least two boats were leading at some point. Nobody led all around the race course, which made for some really great sailing."

American Dustin Romey leads the 505 fleet after sailing to two wins yesterday.