sparkling performance at the Santa Maria Cup regatta in Baltimore over the weekend.

Sailing a J-22, Lewin narrowly missed making the final, winding up third despite winning more races than any of the other participants.

The Bermudian, second after the initial round robin phase, drew Canada's Karen Johnson as her semi-final opponent in the best-of-three knock-out section.

She won the first race of the series handily, crossing the line over a minute in front.

A sudden lull, however, came over the Patapsco Bay for the second outing leaving both craft struggling to find an adequate line in a race Lewin called "a drifter''.

Johnson found just enough to gain the edge when it counted -- at the finish -- after several lead changes. And she then went on to seize the deciding race for a 2-1 win and a berth in the final.

There the Canadian quashed the challenge of hometown favourite Melinda Burgess.

Charm City -- Baltimore's moniker -- became a place of disgust for the Bermudian, who said she felt worthy of a higher placing.

"If you take all the races, we won the most, but we lost the most important one,'' said Lewin, who improved from a fourth place finish last year. "We certainly sailed well, but didn't win the right races.

"We were third, but were definitely top place material. The team has been sailing together for a year now and we are a lot more confident.

"This year it was clear that we were one of the more organised teams and worked well together.'' The team was made up of Lewin's sister Peta, another local Leatrice Roman and former MIT team-mate Gina Middaugh of South Carolina.

The event followed a similar format to that of the popular Omega Gold Cup, with a round robin match racing phase followed by a best-of-three knock-out pitting the top four competitors.

Lewin's stay on the Island will be brief as she is set to travel over to Europe for at least two regattas, the first being the Kiel Regatta in Germany starting next week, followed by the World Championships in France during July.

Then it is on to Savannah, Georgia along with the rest of Bermuda's Olympic hopefuls to take part in a Pre-Olympic event.