yet excitement radiated from the Royal Bermuda Yacht Club yesterday as the $100,000 Brut Gold Cup got underway.

And not even the weather could camouflage the desire of 16 unseeded skippers battling each other for eight spots in the championship round and a shot at the `big boys'.

The same rains that postponed the scheduled morning triathlon put something of a damper on the first day of racing at the event, the crowning glory of the Brut series. However, it was the gusting 15-20 knot winds from the northeast that put a premium on boat handling skills.

Adam Barboza and Glen Astwood, the two Bermudians racing in the qualifying round robins, handled the elements well, with both scoring a pair of victories.

First time competitor Astwood, racing in Group One, wound up with a 2-1 record after three races (qualifiers each race seven matches), while Barboza, in Group Two, finished 2-2.

Astwood began the day in fine fashion as he scored a decisive victory over top American female Hannah Swett.

He followed with a narrow one-second loss against Germany's Jochen Schumann.

The Bermudian led throughout the last leg until the very end, when Schumann was able to edge ahead and push his bow across the line.

Still, Astwood bounced back in his final outing of the day to down previously unbeaten Per Pettersson of Sweden and moved into a three way tie for second place with New Zealand's Murray Jones and Petersson -- all 2-1. Schumann leads the group at 3-0.

Afterwards a cool Astwood praised his crew for their work on what was a special day for the skipper.

"I think we had a great day, it's a good crew and we feel confident regarding our sailing ability,'' said Astwood, who had Lee White, Eddie Bardgett and Paul Fisher aboard. "It was a hard loss to lose to Schumann by inches after we had him the whole way around the course. That may have been inexperience.'' Asked if there were any nerves involved Astwood simply shrugged, saying: "They're here to sail and we're here to sail, we have no great expectations and just want to have a good time and perform the best we can.

"I feel our chances (of reaching championship round) are good.'' Barboza, accompanied by crew Paul Wring, Bob McCutcheon and Steve Cucchiaro, started slowly, losing his first two races to Sweden's all-female team skippered by Helena Strang, and Johan Peterson, also of Sweden.

But Barboza was able to regroup and find his form, putting together two convincing victories over Russia's Andrey Nikolaev and Henrik Lundberg of Finland.

The Bermudian stands tied for third with five others in Group Two, as Steve Benjamin of the United States and Peterson lead the pack at 3-1.