the 2000 Volvo Youth Sailing ISAF World Championship in Australia and came out on top.

After finishing 21st, 10th and 17th in the first three races of the 420 series, the Island pair opted to take a gamble.

Having watched the earlier boys race to check the conditions on Sydney Harbour, they noticed huge swells to one side of the course and went to the right as all the other crews went left.

"After watching the boys race we noticed a good puff coming in from the ocean, and we opted to go to that side of the course,'' said Smith. "We had a good start, and went the opposite direction to everyone else -- which is a little scary but we stuck with it and it paid off.'' Crane and Smith have 49 points and are in 14th place out of the 21 entries.

The boys' 420 team of Jonathan Carter and Giles Spurling are 26th out of 28 entries, having finished 24, 26, 25 and 26 in the quartet of races over the weekend. They have a total of 101 points.

There was no racing yesterday as the day was given over to festivities, but the crews get back in the water later today.

High fliers: Bermuda's sailing team at the youth worlds in Sydney of (from left) A.J. Crane, Giles Spurling, Adrienne Smith, Jonathan Carter and coach Carola Cooper.