A larger fleet than normal could take to the starting line for the biennial Newport to Bermuda Race this year.

Registration for the 635-mile ocean race started two weeks ago and since then applications for entry have come in at a rate that suggests a huge turnout for the start off Castle Hill on June 20.

According to organisers, there are eighty applications for entry in the 49th running of the invitational yacht race, which is also regarded as “The Thrash to the Onion Patch”. Twenty-four of the applicants are new to the race.

“We’re very pleased with the boats and sailors who have indicated they want to race.” Fred Deichmann, the chairman of the Bermuda race organising committee, said.

Among the familiar names are Rives Potts’s Carina, winner of the St David’s Lighthouse Division in 2010 and 2012.

Hap Fauth’s Bella Mente is back in the Gibbs Hill Lighthouse Division. Hewitt Gaynor’s Mireille and Richard du Moulin’s Lora Ann are resuming their duel in the Double-Handed Division, which they have won four times between them. More than a dozen boats have applied to sail in the Cruiser Division. The deadline for applications for entry on April 1. The Newport Bermuda Race is not a race for novices. The racecourse crosses the Gulf Stream and is almost entirely out of sight of land.

First to finish Rambler, George David’s 90-footer, averaged 16 knots. Her elapsed time of just over 39 hours shaved 14 hours off the old course record.

Changes to this year’s race include simpler equipment requirements for boat inspection, the performance screen ensuring that similar boats race against each other, and new prizes for top boats from different regions of the country and a prize for the top boat with a crew of four sailors in the Cruiser Division.

A big attraction is sure to be the 50th Anniversary Onion Patch Series. Boats compete for both team and individual prizes in the series that includes the Newport Bermuda Race, the New York Yacht Club Annual Regatta and the Royal Bermuda Yacht Club Anniversary Regatta.