Bermuda's five-time World Champion Eugene "Penny" Simmons took it to the IOD fleet again yesterday during Bermuda Invitational International Race Week.

Simmons made the best of the strong winds and led the fleet from start to finish in the only race of the day. He rounded the last weather mark more than a dozen boat lengths ahead of Giles Peckham of Alton, UK. Simmons has five points in four races and Peckham now has 15 points on the board.

Sailing with Simmons are his wife Sacha Simmons, Steven King, Steve Mohr and D'Arcey Betschart. Peckham's crew includes Christopher Sharples, Jane Peckham and Andy Taylor.

The IOD teams sail in different boats each day based on a draw that was held at Sunday morning's skippers meeting. The locals drew first so they would not be assigned a rotation that included their own boat. Yesterday Simmons sailed Privateer (IOD 15) and now has a score of 2,1,1,1. He leads in the IOD "A" Series and in the overall competition for the Vrengen Gold Cup.

Meanwhile in the J24's, Scott Snyder continued to show his stern to the rest of the class. He got an excellent start at the committee boat in winds gusting to 26 knots.

Then he trailed Bermuda's Trevor Boyce much of the race, but came back to pass him on the final downwind leg to win again. Snyder has 1,1,1 for three points while Boyce has 4,2,2 for eight points. Peter Rich of the Severn Sailing association in Annapolis Maryland climbed into third place with 3,6,3 for 12 points.

Bermuda's Malcolm Smith marches on in the Laser Class. Yesterday he took two second places, one behind Brett Wright and in the second race today he came second to Rockal Evans. Smith is first with 1,5,1,2,2 for 11 points, Evans is second with 5,1,4,3,1 for 14 points and Wright is third with 6,4,2,1,5 for 18 points.

In the Etchells Class, Bermudian Martin Vezina moved into a first-place tie with Malcolm Graham-Taylor. Vezina with 4,3,1,1 and Graham-Taylor with 3,2,2,2 both have nine points, but Vezina gets the lead on tie breaker points at this time. Tim Patton is in striking distance on third with 2,1,5,3 for 11 points.

The J105 class frolicked in the high winds and Glenn Astwood, skipper of Not Mine for the day came in second but held on to the first place slot.

Not Mine has scored 4,1,1,2 for eight points. Chuck Millican took first today and moved into the second slot with races of 2,4,2,1 for nine points. James MacDonald now has scores 1,2,3,4 for 10 points. With these close scores it is still anybody's regatta to win.

High winds are expected for Bermuda today well. Forecasters predict gusts of 35-40 knots each day so racing may be delayed and the sailors may have to use the time off scheduled for tomorrow.

Details, entry lists, results and photos will be posted on the RBYC web site: http://www.biirw.bm/

Racing starts at 11 a.m.