A second place finish in one of yesterday's two races saw Peter Bromby and Martin Siese climb into the top ten in the 2002 Star European Spring Championships in Palma, Mallorca.

But their position in the standings could have been that much better if they had been able to come anywhere close to that in the second race, writes Matt Westcott.

As it was the pair came in 22nd, but Bromby believes a top five finish is still not out of the question come the end of the regatta tomorrow.

"That is the best race we have had since we have been here," said Bromby, referring to the opening outing. "In fact, it's the only race that we have got off the starting line not on the second row."

Bromby has been sailing a new boat in Mallorca and that has been reflected in some of the finishes to date.

"That was the first time we have had a decent start," he said. "We have been slowly sorting boat out and I think it is going better and better in every race, every day."

After the good start in the first race, Bromby described the second as 'atrocious'.

"We got to the first mark in probably 40th," he said. "Then we slowly nibbled our way back. There were not a lot of big shifts today, it was pretty steady, so it made coming back pretty hard.

"I think only one other guy managed to pass us during that period, the rest of the time we were just passing boats."

As for tomorrow, Bromby was confident of a good outing and a finish in the top five.

"That is still within our grasp. We are actually only about ten points out of fifth and we might even have a shot at fourth going into the last day if all goes well," he said.