For Sertl, who won the first Rolex IWKC in 1985 as crew and the 2001 event as skipper, the first to be held in J/22s, it might be hard to believe she's in the lead after what she described as a 'troubling time' at the start.

"I definitely didn't start well today," she said. "We just had really good comebacks. Once we started we were off the line. Well, one race we were over early and had to come back. We were in comeback mode the entire time, even in the last race. I'm really happy it was shifty so we could get back in the game."

In second-place overall is defending champion Sally Barkow (Nashotah, Wis.), who ended the day with a 2-16-3 scoreline. The first race she rounded every mark in second-place behind Derby Anderson (Annapolis, Md.), who took line honors in the first race of this historic regatta. Anderson is currently in sixth place overall.

The second race of the day was won by San Francisco's Teresa Brandner. "We had a great day!" she said. "We hurt a little in first race and learned a lot. By the second race we did really well, our bow girl was right there when we needed her and everything felt really, really right. The funny thing was we had a poor start. There were a bunch of OCS (on course side, starting early) boats at the committee boat. We were in the second row and they had to go around and re-start. So we kept going, called the shifts and everything worked out.

"My crew held it together so I could focus. Debbie (Schoenerr) is my tactician; Erin Maxwell is the trimmer and gives a ton of input to tactics; and Emily (Augello) does bow. She's 17 and she's learning a lot and always smiling. Honestly everybody worked together and this crew hasn't sailed together before. I got really, really lucky."

The top local boat today was RIFT, skippered by Chelsea Bethancourt (Shoreacres) a senior at LaPorte High School. One might guess that a prestigious regatta such as the Rolex IWKC would cause a bit of nerves, especially for such a young woman. "Oh my gosh, this morning I felt like I was going to throw up," said Bethancourt back at the dock after racing. "I had a headache and I got on the boat and still had a headache going out to the course. Then, when the first gun went off I was OK. We had a bad start, but it was OK, we finished respectably."

Team RIFT finished a very respectable 17 in the first race, and then gathered up their confidence for the next race. "It was beautiful!" said Bethancourt. "I don't know what happened. We had a seventh row start and we went right even though we didn't want to, but we rounded in seventh and thought 'Oh! Maybe right is good.' So we went right the second upwind leg and right again on the third upwind, and we finished ninth. We lost two boats on first downwind and stayed in ninth. It was pretty brutal racing."

"Our communication was really good," Bethancourt continued. "My Mom (Dana Bethancourt) calls boat speed really well and whether we can tack or not. Patricia (Escorihuela) calls wind and puffs and waves, and I'm going in and out of the mainsheet. Sandra (Baldridge) is on the Tacktick saying 'Up one, we're down one.' The constant information that I had driving was phenomenal and definitely helped."

Houston Yacht Club is known for its superlative race management and attention to detail by its members and they did not disappoint today. Led by Principal Race Officer Jim Tichenor, a member of US SAILING's Board of Directors, and co-PRO Taran Teague, who served as the 2005 regatta chair at the Annapolis Yacht Club, in Annapolis, Md., the Race Committee ran three races on Galveston Bay.

Tonight the competitors will be treated to Texas Hospitality at the Sylvan Beach Pavilion, which dates back to the 19th century when trains used to bring thousands of visitors to Houston. World famous Texas BBQ and country line dancing are featured alongside daily first awards and the Kaenon Award, awarded to the team with the lowest score of the day. Racing continues through Saturday and is hosted at the Houston Yacht Club.