THE YEARS had dulled the sheen of Ross Macdonald's bronze medal. Back in 1992 at Barcelona, he was ecstatic after he and Eric Jesperson finished third in the two-man keelboat, or Star class.

But the Vancouver sailor wanted to experience that medal feeling again. And yesterday he did, teaming with crewman Mike Wolfs of Mississauga to capture the silver medal in the Star here in Athens.

Brazil's Torben Grael and Marcelo Ferreira had clinched the gold on Thursday while the French pair of Xavier Rohart and Pascal Rambeau took the bronze.

Macdonald was more than happy to move up a notch on the medal rung, matching Canada's best result in sailing.

"The novelty of the bronze wore off quite a few years ago and this one is still sinking in," Macdonald, 39, said. "It's great. I'll be 40 next year so I guess my middle age crisis is sorted out now."

To win, Macdonald took the risk of taking on a new crewman in Wolfs just eight months before the Games. Though they knew each other, they had never sailed together before and if the chemistry didn't mix properly, it would be too late to change back.

"If you don't like the guy you're sailing with you're in real trouble," said Paul Henderson, an old sea dog himself who is president of the International Sailing Federation and a member of the International Olympic Committee. "(Eight) months ago, he brought Wolfs in and they just clicked. It's like rowing or canoeing -- you gotta have good people who are in tune with each other to make the boat go faster."

"It takes a while to build that chemistry up and Mike's done a lot of sailing, so he was pretty quick to pick up just how the boat liked to be sailed and how I liked to sail the boat," said Macdonald, who as skipper mans the tiller and mainsail while Wolfs reads the wind and handles the jib.

CAN GET BUMPY

Though it appears to be a genteel sport, the tactics can be tough as opponents try to "steal" one's wind or worse, bump boats. The Canucks were hit by Bermuda earlier this week, but made some quick repairs.

"We were aware (bumping) could happen, but at the same time we knew that they couldn't spend much time doing it," he said. "The fact that the wind was shifting meant you could go to either side of the race track and that helped us as well."

In the only other race yesterday, Oskar Johansson of Oakville and John Curtis of Kingston wound up 15th overall in the Tornado class.

THE PODIUM

MEN'S SAILING STAR CLASS

GOLD - Grael/Ferreira, Brazil

SILVER - Mike Wolfs & Ross Macdonald, CANADA

BRONZE - Rohart/Rambeau, France