There's great news and bad news for Bermuda's sailors in the preliminaries of the Bermuda Gold Cup.

All have a chance of making Round One of the championship stage of competition but, during today's final session of qualifying races, one of the Island's three male sailors is likely to be eliminated.

That's because both Peter Bromby and Adam Barboza are among four sailors with a 3-2 (win/loss) record in Group One of the 16 unseeded skippers. The problem is that one of the Bermudians' remaining two races is against each other.

American Andy Horton appears to have that half of the draw sewn up already with an impressive 5-0 record so far. Therefore, the two Bermudians are in a five-way battle for Group One's other two qualifying berths. Two sailors in that section are out of the running to advance.

"Unfortunately, probably one Bermudian will be kicked out," said Barboza frankly yesterday. "We've always been competitive against Peter and hopefully tomorrow (today) will be the same. We're looking forward to it. I believe that will decide who goes through."

Bromby, 38, is equally optimistic. "I hope to come out ahead but it's going to be a tough race."

This sticky situation had Barboza ruing a dreadful loss on Saturday, the opening day of competition.

"After having a penalty on Mason Woodworth and leading him, it just got away from us. We should have closed the door on him but we gave it back to him. We would have been 4-1 instead now," said the 34-year-old.

Another local, Glenn Astwood, and Tucker Thompson lead Group Two of the unseeded skippers, both with 4-1 records. Four others in that cluster of eight could qualify.

Astwood's first priority today is to win at least one race to secure a top-three place. Then, the 47-year-old will try to win his second race, thereby topping the group and drawing a lesser seed in the championship stage of competition.

The Bermudian who should have slept the best last night was Paula Lewin. She shares the limelight in women's qualifier - the Bermuda International Women's Match Racing Championship - with Lotte Pedersen of Denmark. Both are unbeaten 4-0 so far and will clash for the first time ever today as the semi-finalists in their qualifier are determined.

"We're proving we have a great team. We have a good chance of going all the way. We're almost guaranteed a spot in the top four. We just have to win one of our next three races tomorrow (today).

"We're confident and so far we're coming out ahead but it's not going to be easy. It will be interesting to see what she is all about ( Pedersen)," said 31-year-old Lewin who also faces Deborah Willits of the USA and Klaartje Zuiderbaan of The Netherlands today.

Pedersen, who turned 30 yesterday, attributed her success to a combination of good starts, boat speed and some luck. Regarding her showdown with Lewin, she said: "She is fast and knows the IODs more than we do. It will be tough to beat her."