Bermudian sailors Peter Bromby and Lee White yesterday paid tribute to their friend and rival Glyn Charles, missing and presumed drowned in the ill-fated Sydney-to-Hobart yacht race.

Bromby and White had been firm friends with Briton Charles over the past six years, since they first competed against each other in the Bacardi Cup in Miami.

And Charles and his girlfriend stayed with White when he came to Bermuda just two months ago to compete in the Gold Cup with fellow Briton Andy Beadsworth.

Rescuers gave up their search for Charles last night, 48 hours after he was washed off his yacht, Sword of Orion into 30-feet waves as high winds turned the race into a fight for survival.

The 33-year-old was one of two sailors to be still missing, while the bodies of four others have been recovered.

Bromby, who first learned of Charles' fate from the story in yesterday's Royal Gazette , said: "Glyn was extremely likeable and everybody enjoyed his company. He was also a fierce competitor who was sailing mad. It's hard to believe he won't be around any more.'' White, who spoke by telephone yesterday with Charles' English girlfriend Annie, said: "It's always terrible when you hear of these things, but when it's someone you know, it's hard to take in. I just keep hoping someone will call and say they've found him alive.

"I have to try and remain optimistic about his chances. But they say the longest you can survive in those seas is 24 hours, and realistically, it's probably more like two or three hours.

"I only spoke briefly with Annie. She's devastated and was at home being consoled by friends. She's going to fly to Australia. They had been together a good number of years and I think they would probably have got married.'' White had been following reports from Australia on the Internet and these indicated that Charles had been wearing the correct safety equipment at the time he was washed overboard.

"He would probably have been up on deck on his own driving the boat. He had all the gear on, but whatever he was clipped to probably broke off. Some reports say the mast broke off, so he may have got tangled up in the rigging, but that's all speculation.

"More will come out later, I suppose, but there are some things we'll probably never know.

"Glyn was a full-time sailor, paid for his services because he was good. He was well-known and widely respected in the sport, but he was also a fun-loving individual with a great sense of humour. When people stay with you in your home, you get to know them a lot better.

"We were planning to do some training with him in Florida this winter. I still can't quite believe we'll never see him again.'' Charles, sailing with George Skuodas, competed against the two Bermudians at the highest level in the Star Class at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, when the Britons finished 11th and Bromby and White came 13th. In the run-up to the Games, Bromby and Charles had been tuning partners, testing their boats in the USA and sharing the same coach, Australian Ian Brown.

Bromby said: "At some of the regattas we went to, there weren't many other English-speaking sailors, so we ended up hanging out together a lot and we hit it off from the start.

"This was as tragic a way to die as I could imagine, doing something he loved doing. And knowing Glyn, I'm sure he would have been pushing the boat as hard as it could be pushed.

"I've done quite a bit of big boat racing myself and when something like this happens, it makes you realise how vulnerable you are and that we are playing against nature a lot of the time.'' Bromby remembers sharing a friendly rivalry with Charles after their first meeting in the Bacardi Cup, when the Bermudian finished second and the Briton third.

"We've traded a few regattas between us. I reckon it was about 50-50,'' added Bromby.

In the Gold Cup this year, Charles and Andy Beadsworth were knocked out in the first round, losing 3-2 to Markus Wieser, of Germany.

Organisers of the Sydney-to-Hobart race said a full inquiry would be held into what has been the world's worst yachting disaster since the Fastnet race off Ireland in 1979 in which 15 sailors died.

Of the 115 yachts in the race this year, 70 boats withdrew because of hurricane-strength winds. Six boats were abandoned or sank.

"I personally won't race again, my decision's pretty well made up,'' Richard Winning, the owner and skipper of the Winston Churchill , said as he recovered from his ordeal in Merimbula, 250 miles south of Sydney.

His 56-year-old yacht, an entrant in the inaugural 1945 Sydney-Hobart classic, was abandoned on Sunday night and the nine crew members climbed into two life rafts.

Winning and three crew mates were hoisted to safety on Monday night after hanging onto a life raft that flipped repeatedly for 24 hours in the howling winds. Yesterday, they found out that three of their colleagues -- Jim Lawler, Mike Bannister and John Dean -- were dead after a wave swept them out of the second life raft.

Australians Bruce Guy and Phil Skeggs were also killed in the storm, Australian authorities said.

More race reports, see pages 8 and 9.

GLYN CHARLES -- The British yachtsman (left) missing, presumed drowned, in the Sydney-to-Hobart yacht race, is pictured here sailing with George Skuodas in the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, when his rivals included Bermuda's Peter Bromby and Lee White.