Correia won the battle of the bulge and head a list of four teams that qualified for next week's semifinals of the Bank of Bermuda Cup.

New weight restrictions imposed for this year's event required the team to lose more than 60 pounds in just over a month and as late as Saturday they still needed to shed about 12 pounds before the Sunday morning weigh-in, the limit being approximately 759 pounds for a four-member crew.

A crash diet ensued and a day in the sauna on Saturday allowed the foursome to come in some 10 pounds under the limit.

"Ten pounds between four people is just not eating dinner the night before,'' said a svelte-looking Bromby after an arduous day of racing.

"Water's the key drink,'' explained White. "A lot of water ... and no alcohol.'' Collectively, they dropped 74 pounds, with Bromby sacrificing the most going from 250 to 228, White from 197 to 179, Simmons from 208 to 189, while the already reed-thin Correia may have gained four pounds.

Meanwhile, on the water there was only a single blemish to the Bromby record as the west-ender sailed to six match race victories in the seven-race round-robin qualifying series against one defeat.

He lost the opening race to well known dinghy racer William White after miscounting the number of legs and rounding the final leeward mark instead of sailing through to finish, thus allowing White to triumph.

The win served White well, enabling him to scrape into the next round as the lowest-rated qualifier after ending the series with four wins against three defeats.

However, it was business as usual for Bromby as he showed his uncanny ability to control the starts and gain early advantages on his opponents. His status as the top qualifier also gives him the right to choose his opponent for the first semifinal next Sunday.

"Things went according to plan,'' said Bromby. "One of the key races was against Blythe (Walker). Had he beaten us he would have won the right to choose his opponent in the semifinal.

"I'm not sure yet who I'll race against (next week). I know who I'd like to race, but I'm going to let the other three guys choose ... the last time I chose the guy went on to beat me.'' Walker and Tim Patton also secured berths, each producing noteworthy performances in going 5-3.

Patton, a last-minute entrant, lamented though that while he will race on Sunday it was not his desire to participate in the Omega Gold Cup, for which the two finalists in the bank event get paid admission into.

"We certainly will not be sailing in the Omega Gold Cup ... even if we qualify,'' said Patton. "Two of us work for the event and we would just bow out and let somebody else sail in it.

"We're going out to enjoy ourselves, I don't suspect that we're going to win this championship, but we're going to do our best and enjoy it.'' Conversely, Walker undoubtedly has his eyes on a berth in what is arguably the Island's premier sailing spectacle, which gives locals the opportunity to sail against the sport's elite.

Yesterday, Walker was only looking as far as the semifinals and what he saw was the giant spectre of Bromby looming on the horizon. The key, however, for him will not so much be beating Bromby, who is not likely to choose Walker as a semifinal opponent, but to get to the final.

"I think Peter's definitely got an edge on all three of us having just come back from the Nations Cup. He is on the ball and has a good team,'' said Walker, who has emerged from the shadows of his father, Jordy, to become a legitimate star in his own right. "I think that with a little practice we can give him a good run for the money.

"The plan was to get good starts and we've been practising our boat handling the last two weeks. We wanted to make sure we made as few mistakes as possible. And usually that results in a win.

"We may practise a couple nights with Peter. Other than that we'll just go out and do the best we can.''