A Super Yacht Division has been added to next year’s Newport Bermuda Race.

The Bermuda Race Organising Committee added the new category after receiving several expressions of interest from the captains and owners of yachts with more than 90ft on deck.

Given the size of the new class, there will be a change in some rules compared to the ones that govern the rest of the fleet.

There will be a staggered start, at a different time, for safety, a course that leaves Block Island and Bermuda to port, rather than starboard, and some variations in safety requirements where they conflict with the yacht’s classification society’s, or flag state’s regulations.

In keeping with the race’s commitment to science-based handicapping, the Super Yacht Division will be scored using the International Super Yacht Rule.

To avoid confusions, organisers have posted the exceptions for the super yachts as an Addendum to the Notice of Race on the race website.

As participants count down to the June 17 start date, organisers are arranging a series of seminars to ensure that all crews are race compliant.

A minimum of 30 per cent of all crew members must have attended a United States Sailing-sanctioned safety at sea seminar within five years of the start of the race.

The captain and either the navigator or a watch captain must be included in the required 30 per cent.

In addition, two members of each crew must hold a First Aid or CPR certificate, and in 2018 the race will require two crew in each boat to have ISAF certification.

The safety seminar has been scheduled for March 19 and 20 in the Marriott Hotel in Newport. Before that, there will be race preparation seminar in Westbrook, Connecticut, on November 7.

The third in a series of presentations by the Brewer Yacht Yards, it will take place at Pilots Point Marina.

Details can be found on the race website, www.bermudarace.com.