Show us a pic...
I have been using speedlights in bright sun with good results...just crank them up if you need to...I use M mode, TTL sucks when used as fill light. Actually doesn't work very good after f/8 so I don't recommend TTL in bright sun.
Just get them off camera if you don't want shadows...there is a recent thread that discusses this
here
The samples were in sunlight conditions and one SB800