BARCELONA -- The seven-member sailing team are the senior citizens amongst the Bermudians at the Olympic Village.

They were here last year for three-and-a-half weeks to compete in the Pre-Olympic Regatta and began their current residence on July 11.

"By the time we leave this time, we would have been here for five weeks,'' said national coach Chuck Millican. "I like Barcelona but I will be anxious to get back home as soon as it's over.'' Millican has been putting the team through their paces every day and while the winds at the Port Olympic have been rather inconsistent, much has been accomplished.

Millican said: "We spend virtually every day on the water. I split my time doing two sessions every afternoon with a different boat.

"The conditions have been pretty much everything from light to no wind to light air breeze. I think that primarily when the breeze is coming out of the 245-degree range, it's stronger wind and the team is generally very strong in that condition.

"When the breeze is pretty far left, somewhere around 60 degrees, it's going to be very holey out there, very much a regatta of chance. Not necessarily one of great preparation and boat speed...it will be very fluky out there.

"I think our team has been sailing and working hard. Hopefully we will have one or two good days of practice before the first race.'' Unofficial race days have been scheduled for today and tomorrow and the lone official race day will be on Sunday, the eve of competition for Bermuda's four classes -- Star (Peter Bromby and Paul Fisher), Tornado (Reid and Jay Kempe), 470 (Blythe Walker and Ray DeSilva) and Europe Dinghy (Paula Lewin).

The initial practice races will be primarily useful for experimenting various tactics and the ever-critical decisions on sails.

"We will be looking to get information more than anything else,'' said Millican. "Each one of our boats will start the race and sail the first windward leg. If they are not going very well they will skip the two reaches and go straight back downwind again and join the fleet.

"If they are going okay in the beat they will continue on to test speed, test sails. Blythe Walker is probably the only one who has a big decision to make on sails because he has two different jibs.'' The camaraderie among the sailors is good but it ends there as each are privately hoping for conditions that best suit their style.

"Our days of tuning have been extremely good with Peter Bromby and Paul Fisher,'' Millican added. "They have gone against some of the top people out there and they have done very, very well. I would expect a strong showing from them. They have not gone against the US guy (1988 silver medalist Mark Reynolds) who is odds-on favourite to win the gold, but that's more by design.

We have been avoiding him, basically.'' While the Star Class hopefuls have been avoiding the toughest opposition, the Kempes are locking horns on a daily basis with 1984 silver medallist Randy Smyth of the US and Canadian ace David Sweeney.

"On every given day they are about as fast as they are but not quite as smooth as they are in transition. They are getting better day by day but are a bit off the pace compared to those two...either one of those two can win the whole thing.

Millican said that Walker and DeSilva's work ethic since the beginning of the year is starting to pay off. "They have done a lot of work in the last six months and it's really showing here, their performance is much better,'' he said.

"They will be stronger if the breeze is up a bit, about 12-14 knots where their teamwork and their size will benefit them. When it gets light and shifty it's probably not their strong point.'' But Paula Lewin, the lone solo sailor, would prefer the light and shifty winds. "Paula has improved so much over the last four or five months it has just been great. She has a tuning partner here, the girl who won the 1991 world championships from Norway (Karianne Eikland).

"She was not selected for her country's team so she signed on with Paula to help her and it's been a real big advantage for Paula to work with her. She's (Eikland) good, she's really good. She could win the gold medal here but she's not racing.''