in the first day of racing in the 50th Bermuda Gold Cup yesterday.

Jones beat Britain's Andy Beadsworth, the USA's Paul Cayard and Glen Foster and Bermuda's Glenn Astwood to be 4-0 in Group Two, while de Angelis was 3-0 up following wins over Peter Hall, James Spithill of Australia and local ace Paula Lewin.

Bermudian Lewin, sailing with an all-female crew and looking to make the championship proper for the first time, also lost to Dean Barker of New Zealand, but picked up a victory against Bill Buckles to leave her at 1-2 with four flights to come.

Lewin is competing in the same group as fellow Bermudian Peter Bromby, who finished the day 2-1 up after beating Canadian Hall and Ian Williams of Britain but slipping up against Spithill.

Astwood, competing in Group Two, won two and lost two of his flights, the victories coming against Sweden's Morten Hedlund and David Whelan of the US and the defeats against Britain's Andy Green and Jones.

Eight teams are looking to qualify from two groups totalling 16 skippers. The championship round begins on Wednesday when the eight will be matched against the eight seeded skippers.

Racing today will determine who advances and at this stage there are no guarantees. While Jones, who finished fourth overall last year after losing to champion Peter Gilmour in the semi-finals, and de Angelis look well positioned, there are a number of skippers in both groups who are close behind.

Cayard, the winner of this year's Whitbread Round the World Race, was close on Jones' tail, with just one defeat from his four flights yesterday.

And Bromby, Spithill and Barker are all well-placed in Group One.