qualify for next year's Olympic Games.

The Island, represented by soling trio Nick Jones, Adam Barboza and Craig Davis, lie 19th out of 22 countries after three races in the Olympic Championship qualifying round in Melbourne, Australia.

There are 38 boats taking part and the trio are in 34th place with six races remaining. The competition started with fleet racing and the top 16 will progress to match racing, from which five countries will qualify for the Olympics.

Said Jones: "Spirits are still good and we know we have to do better to finish in the top 16. We cannot afford to be finishing in the 30s any more.'' The crew had suffered difficulty racing in winds of 25 knots and more and in big swells -- conditions they were not accustomed to.

"We tore the mini spinnaker and we could not use the big one because it was blowing so hard,'' Jones added.

Bermuda's Brett Wright has also found the going tough in the laser class. The class has been divided into gold, silver and bronze fleets depending on performance so far and Wright is in the bronze.