as both Blythe Walker and Peter Bromby bade farewell following the first round.

Both were comprehensively beaten by more experienced and tactically sound opposition, with Walker able to win just one race during his best-of-five series against highly-regarded American Kevin Mahaney, while Bromby suffered a whitewash at the hands of world number two Peter Gilmour of Australia.

"I thought we sailed well in a couple races, but unfortunately made a few minor mistakes, which cost us a lot of time ... and racing these guys any mistake and you're in a lot of trouble,'' explained Walker, upbeat despite the loss. "I think each year we get a little better and one of these days we'll be able to win it. All it takes is practice.'' Walker split the first two races with Mahaney under normal, shifty conditions in Hamilton Harbour, before losing the third to set up a must-win situation for the Bermudian.

Race four unfolded with the pair exchanging tacks and covering each other during the initial windward leg. However, Mahaney was able to pin Walker on the outside just off from Pearman Watlington and while the former caught a sudden wind gust, which carried him toward the mark, Walker was left luffing in dead air.

This proved decisive as Walker was unable to recover, allowing Mahaney to cruise to an easy win.

"We both tacked out to the shore and he got a puff we never saw,'' said Walker. "He took off and our jib was left luffing.'' Similarly error prone was Bromby, who despite excelling at the starts continually "shot himself in the foot'' through questionable tactical moves.

A typical example of this occurred in the opening race when Bromby enjoyed a 35-second advantage with just two legs to sail, but elected not to cover his opponent. The move came back to haunt him as Gilmour recovered the deficit and in the end was able to nose out Bromby by a mere second.

The hole was dug deeper in race two when the local favourite rounded the wrong weather mark and was disqualified while in good position to challenge.

"I don't think I sailed the best I've sailed,'' admitted Bromby, unable to duplicate last year's feat of reaching the quarter-finals. "I think I sailed a little rough today. We actually won all three starts and came away in good shape and should have put him away.

"We maybe let him out of the bag three times, particularly in the first race where we were in good shape and let him come back and lost by inches.

"The second race was a cock-up with the mark. No problem there ... I was wrong. The only thing is that if the race committee sees fit to change the course mark for yachts that are racing, why couldn't they change the course for boats in pre-start.

"I understand it's written in the rule book and they're not obligated to, but if there's been a windshift that's made it unfair for the guys who are racing, it's probably just as unfair for anybody who's not started.'' Gilmour paid tribute to his opponent, saying that it was not an easy series, although the scoreline would indicate otherwise.

"We realised probably if anything we would have a few match racing skills on him,'' said the Aussie, who will face Welshman Eddie Warden-Owen in his quarter-final series tomorrow. "But at the end of the day I think that it is teamwork that wins these races and it's no doubt about it, my boys did a really great job. We've come together from all different parts and have formed together as a very good team.

"We kept our heads when a few things went wrong about us and we kept on trying to take the race back to him when we were behind and that managed to extend our lead a bit.

"He's no easy match, Peter.'' Told of his new-found status as one of Bermuda's most reviled villains Gilmour responded: "Well, I realise that, but one thing I really enjoyed about it was that everyone was saying, `Go Peter!', so we thought they were all rooting for us.

"But when we got the penalty at the last leeward mark we realised that the cheers which went up weren't in our favour.'' As most match-ups went according to rank it was left to German ace Markus Wieser to produce the only major upset as he disposed of number five seed Chris Law of Great Britain 3-1 in what was maybe the day's closest and most exciting series.

Wieser won the first two races before Law came back to take the third. The fourth race saw the lead exchange several times between the duo during the first four legs. However, Wieser gained a favourable inside overlap rounding the leeward mark for the last time and held on the final two legs, winning by 22 seconds.

"We were not too aggressive, but sailed very cleverly today,'' said Wieser, set to take on Ed Baird. "We sailed for the wind, not only for the competition and everyone (on board) did a good job, which is the reason for us going forward.'' "It was a great sailing day for us. I had a great team ... we had a chance and we made (the most of) it.

"Against Ed Baird -- I think the top 20 teams in the world are very close together -- I'm 15 and he's nine, so the distance is not too big and I think we can beat him.'' Remaining match-ups have Mahaney being rewarded with a series against defending champion Russell Coutts, who demolished Japan's Makoto Namba 3-0 in the first round, and Roy Heiner of Holland, a 3-0 victor over Thierry Peponnety, battling another Aussie, Rod Davis, who eased past Canadian Scott Morgan three straight.

CRISS-CROSS -- Bermuda's Blythe Walker, left, and Kevin Mahaney of the United States exchange tacks during their first-round series yesterday in Hamilton Harbour.