Adam Barboza and Glen Astwood qualifying for Wednesday's first round of the championship.

And it was Barboza who carried the Island's banner tallest as continued on a winning streak started a day earlier, winning all three matches during the morning session to give him five consecutive wins and a 5-2 record to emerge atop Group Two.

Hamilton Harbour, transformed from a murky battleground to a picturesque sea of tranquillity, provided the ideal setting for Barboza, who began the day with an emphatic two minute, 13 second win over Canada's Nigel Cochrane.

Next victim was luckless Bill Buckles of the United States, who was assessed two penalties during pre-start manoeuvres and incurred a rare black flag -- disqualification -- soon after crossing the start line.

Veteran American sailmaker Steve Benjamin came marginally closer than the aforementioned pair, but even he was no match for the rampant Barboza.

"It feels great. My crew really helped me today, keeping my head out of the boat so that I could do what I do best,'' said Barboza, whose crew of Bob McCutcheon, Paul Wring and Steve Cucchiaro appeared in near perfect song throughout.

However, the task only gets steeper for the quartet, with number seven seed Markus Wieser standing as the hurdle in their first round best-of-five series.

It was two years ago that Barboza previously qualified for the first round of the championship only to be quickly erased by Australia's Rod Davis and he was hopeful that the experience of 1994 would aid his cause against the highly-regarded German.

"We got him last year when he was an unseeded skipper, but the pool was really deep last year and I think we got him in our first race, getting two penalties on him,'' said Barboza. "I don't know if that's indicative of what's going to happen on Wednesday, because he's just come from the World Championships and I'm sure he's on his game.'' In contrast, Astwood, after a stellar day one, needed every ounce of skill in order to progress with a 4-3 record, after entering the day at 2-1. In the end it came down to a desperate final match against American John Burnham in near calm, with Astwood prevailing despite having to perform a penalty turn at the end of the penultimate leg.

Earlier he had struggled in losses to New Zealand's Murray Jones and Ben Cesare of the US, while defeating Austrian Roman Hagara.

"Our spirits never went down and we said `Let us try and win the race','' said Astwood of the match against Burnham. "We were ahead, it was light and fluky and anything could have happened. The opportunity presented itself and we took advantage of it.'' Astwood will now face fourth seed Chris Law in the first round, a match he viewed as "winnable.'' But while much attention focussed on the Bermudians it was first time Gold Cup competitor Jochen Schuemann who triggered the most fear among the top seeds.

The three-time Olympic gold medallist -- the latest in Atlanta -- was simply unstoppable in rolling to a 7-0 record.

"That was just the qualifying round and (what we've done) doesn't matter in the next round ...my team gave a good performance and I hope we are ready for the seeded skippers,'' said Schumann, who now tackles Bermuda's Peter Bromby, the eighth seed.

CLEAR SAILING -- Adam Barboza (left) and his crew (Paul Wring, Bob McCutcheon and Steve Cochiarro are all smiles after winning their fourth straight race yesterday (below) and moving into the championship round of the Brut Gold Cup.

Bermuda's Glenn Astwood also advanced.