an Olympic class event, skippers make their debut in International Race Week on Monday with justified optimism of there being a bright future lying ahead for the class.

The occasion will see 25-year-old Bermudian Andreas Lewin make his debut in the event and nobody is more thrilled to be among the field of 12 skippers than he is.

In addition to Lewin, other local Lasers sailors competing are Adam Barboza, David Kuhn, Peter Shrubb, David Moore and Brett Wright. Another top Lasers sailor, Malcolm Smith, will be participating in the Snipes Class where he has become a regular over the years.

Lewin goes into the event on a high note after just winning the Lasers Spring Series, wrapping up Sunday's final round in Somerset by taking top honours in three races. But because he is still a relative newcomer to the class after only recently purchasing his boat two months ago, he realises the huge challenge he faces ahead of him next week.

"It will be my first turnout in Race Week and I am looking forward to it. I have never raced in Lasers before, most of the racing I have done has been in Fitted Dinghys and in IODs when I have crewed with my father,'' said Lewin yesterday.

When he was younger, Lewin had some experience abroad sailing in Tornados and 470, but now that he has been attracted to Lasers he is hoping that the switch will mean being involved in a much more competitive and exciting class.

Fleet captain Barboza was just as happy to see Lasers finally making a breakthrough into Race Week.

"It's great, it is just unfortunate that the numbers are down, though, because some of the foreign sailors who were invited are involved in the Atlantic Coast Championships,'' said Barboza.

"We are at least satisfied with the overall number of entries this year, but in coming years we hope to see it doubled. The class is pretty popular because it involves only one man and his boat. It has really caught on here in a short period, we have about 20 boats in the local fleet so far.'' Although little is known of the foreign sailors, one who is tipped to win the event is James Jacob of Annapolis, Maryland, who recently finished among the top 20 in the North American Championships.

The Etchells Class promises to be very competitive once again with five locals and 10 foreign sailors vying for the title now that the favourite, America's Cup contender and twice Etchells world champion Dennis Conner has bowed out.

This year the class will be subject to the new crew weight restriction allowing for 628 pounds for the three-man crew.

Defending champion Dr. David Jones of Seattle, Washington, will be back with a different crew while big Bill Irwin -- a member of Jones' crew last year -- will be sailing with Steve Cuchiarro from Marblehead, Massachusetts, and with Bermuda's sailing coach Chuck Milligan on board. This trio will be hard to beat.

Eric Kreuter of Connecticut and Jeff Stall of Florida each won races last year and should make the fleet very competitive.

The Newport Harbour Yacht Club of California are sending their current fleet champions and should also do well. Other competitors from Canada, the United States and England will round out the visiting fleet. Ted Fort of England has even shipped his brand new boat here for the event.

Tim Patton, a former Race Week winner, will not make it easy for the foreigners with his regular crew of Clive Thatcher and Michael Carey.

Among the other local sailors turning out in this class are Dennis Correia, Alan Williams and Jack Outerbridge, who is the founder of the fleet in Bermuda, and Graham Tremlett who has just imported a new boat from the US.