If Bermuda win an Olympic medal in Athens it will be the hard way.

The equipment blight that Paula Lewin?s team suffered in the Yngling class haunted the Island?s Star sailors on the first day of their regatta, immediately setting back Peter Bromby and Lee White?s medal hopes.

The sudden snapping of bolts ? which were keeping their starboard chain plate intact ? at the outset of the very first race on Saturday doomed them to last among 17 crews.

Their fate, after incurring a penalty turn for a collision in the second race, sunk further as they were the penultimate boat to finish.

However, Bermuda?s Star warriors are made of stern stuff and yesterday began clawing their way back ? eighth and 11th they placed ? as they again took to the waters off the Greek capital, urging their supporters not to give up on them returning home with something bright and shiny dangling around their necks.

Sailing savvy as he is though, Bromby knows that 52 points from four races ? not to mention second last in the standings ? will call for some exceptional results to redress the crisis.

?Each day we?ve got to try and cut the path to the podium in half. I still think that 12 points a day will put you on the podium which means we have screwed up four days? worth already.

?We have been down before and we have fought off the canvas. That?s been humbling but it?s also character-building and we?re going to make it back. Just stick with us,? said the skipper who entered the Summer Games as one tipped for top glory.

?I would be wrong if I didn?t admit it?s going to be a mountain to climb to get on the podium but it?s certainly still within our grasp and we can do it.

?Tomorrow (today) will be a critical day for us. We will need to get some top-four results but, again, we can do that. We just need a big day tomorrow. Our goal, one way or the other, is to do as well as we can and we are going to take whatever chances come our way.

?We?re not out of the medals yet. We?ve still got a shot. It?s only four of 11 races done. What you will see from the results is that everybody is vulnerable. Everybody is having bad races and good races.?

The see-saw battle playing out in Athens is all too evident by the fact ? and obvious consolation ? that the one man who has fared worse than Bromby is his arch rival and world number one, Freddy Loof of Sweden, with 55 points.

Reflecting on Saturday?s double whammy of misfortune, the reigning Male Athlete of the Year termed it ?about as bad a start as we could have had?.

?We came off the starting line and the bolts of the starboard chain plate, which holds the stays that hold the mast up, sheered off.

?It?s hard to believe it would happen yesterday (Saturday) when there was not that much wind. We had been sailing the boat in a lot of wind and you would think they would break when it was windy.

?We went over the boat with a fine tooth comb before the start. Falling short of pulling these bolts out and looking at them ? and probably putting them back in having looked at them ? you just wouldn?t see that problem.

?The timing is my type of luck at this regatta. It?s really unbelievable,? said Bromby who will be hoping to celebrate his 40th birthday on Thursday in better spirits.

Having got the bolts fixed in between races on Saturday, the Bermudians encountered further difficulties when they were penalised for a collision. By the time they had undertaken their obligatory turn they were second last and remained there despite their best efforts.

?We pressured and were pretty close to the boats in front of us but we never got by any of them. At this level it?s very good sailing. Guys don?t give you any freebies. So we were made to pay. That definitely wasn?t the start we were looking for.

?Today (yesterday) we had two reasonable races. We could live with today. It wasn?t the end of the world. A lot of guys had some bad ones as well . . . but in the next seven races we certainly need to buck up,? said Bromby who will only have one drop at his disposal.

He and White will be hoping an expected change in the weather forecast helps their predicament.

?Today we?re supposed to see the meltemi (a 25 to 30-knot northerly breeze) which suits us better,? explained the sailing veteran. ?We look forward to getting out in the northerly and away from this sea breeze because the wave-to-wind ratio is a lot higher in the sea breeze and it?s not really our favourite condition.

?Hopefully we will get a change of conditions and a change of luck.?

Brazil?s Torben Grael leads the regatta with 11 points and is the only competitor with all top-ten ? in fact, all top-five ? finishes.

Denmark?s Nicklas Holm, trying to get over having killed a pedestrian last weekend near the sailing venue, is second on 20 points while Flavio Marazzi of Switzerland is third on 21.

Meanwhile, Lewin and her crew wrapped up a miserable Olympic campaign with an all-too-late fourth place in the final Yngling race. It gave them a Phyrric boost as they finished 15th out of 16 with 108 points.

Britain, who opted not to sail the final race, won gold with the low score of 39 points. The Ukraine took silver with 50 points and Denmark bronze with 54 points.