ABOARD SEA TREK, NEWPORT, Rhode Island -- It was a start fit for royalty as the 39th Newport to Bermuda Race got off without any glitches yesterday at a location appropriately called Castle Hill.

The joyous beginning, with a sea-spray of magical images under sun-dappled skies and only a touch of the fog that prevailed during the week, came after months of preparation for organisers, skippers and crew members alike.

There were 155 yachts in 10 classes at Narragansett Bay for the beginning of the 635-mile ocean crossing, the largest fleet since 1982. Two large orange buoys, approximately 800 yards apart, marked the starting point and the race began right on schedule at 2 p.m. Bermuda time, with the two Grande Voile entries, Essence and Parlay , both over 90 feet long, answering the first siren blast.

Hundreds of spectators, with sun-creased faces in a permanent squint, lined the shore at the Inn at Castle Hill and in various boats dotting the area near the orange buoys, cheered as Essence took a lightening-quick lead, but it wasn't until Class Two got underway 10 minutes later that things began to heat up.

Longobarda , one of nine Bermuda entries in this year's race and skippered by Francis Carter, whirled off into the rough scrimmage and struck more quickly than finger-snap by jumping out to an exciting start to take the lead in Class Two and the Racing Division. Carter, refrigerator cool in the heat, clearly showed that he wants to win this race and has his sights set on the elapsed-time record of 62 hours, 29 minutes and 16 seconds set by Nirvana in 1982.

The 80-foot sailboat muscled her way in front of Renegade , captained by Ken Meade of Grosse Pointe, Michigan, to take the lead by well over a boat length.

Next up was the Racing/Cruising Division, splintered into seven different classes. Boats in the division will attempt to secure the prestigious St.

David's Lighthouse Trophy.

Alphida , with captain Kirk Cooper, trailed Boomerang , Congere and Kodiak in Class Three, but the Bermuda entry, carrying a French flag, was in the thick of the breath-taking action. The crew of Alphida appeared relaxed in the final moments leading up to the race, waving to people on the other boats.

In Class Four, Jalapenos Dos , skippered by former Royal Bermuda Yacht Club commodore Jordy Walker calmly kept his ground with Gold Digger and Loose Goose in a logjam at the starting line.

Leading the way in Class Five, one of two classes in the Racer/Cruising Division without any Bermuda entries, were Midnight Sun , War Stories and True North .

Buddy Rego's Tsunami , proudly hoisting the Bermuda banner in Class Six, got off to a good start, but trailed Ariel and As Larks, Harmon .

Tsunami moved into second spot after four minutes, bolstered by the 12 to 14 knot winds, coming out of the South in relatively calm seas. Also in the class, but in the rear of the pack, was Constellation , the winner in the Racing Division in 1992.

Bermuda's Monterey , with captain Les Crane, chugged slowly in Class Seven, as Rocket J. Squire quickly grabbed the lead along with Julianna and Cybele .

Crane, however, soon showed signs off reviving after the lethargic start.

At the head of Class Eight were Windfall , Light Fantastic and Gaylark .

Nicholas Dill's Dillightful started off the pace in Class Nine, but was within striking range of Thunderhead and Pamir , the two early leaders. Dill and crew tried to make up ground by looking like belligerent bouncers at front door of rowdy disco. The other Bermuda entry in the class, Vivace , skippered by Colin Couper, began sluggishly and was at the rear of the fleet. Class Ten was broken up into two divisions, featuring doublehanded spinnaker and non-spinnaker boats. The two Bermuda entries, Morgans Cloud , with captain John Harries, and Tamarugo , skippered by Warren Brown, both challenged for the early lead.

With the revised forecast yesterday for windier conditions throughout the race, the first boats could begin arriving at the St. David's Lighthouse anytime between late Monday and early Tuesday morning.

Anxious skippers went into overdrive a few hours before the outset of yesterday's race, trying to make sure everything was finally ready.

"We got all our headaches sorted out,'' said Dill, aboard Dillightful yesterday morning. "Everything seems to be in order now.

"This morning they were predicting a little stronger south-westerlies, certainly from here off to the Continental Shelf and then from there it looks a little light and variable, but that really depends on what's going to happen with the two lows coming across Canada.'' Rego, oozing intensity even while carrying provisions onto Tsunami , was growing impatient with only two hours to go before the race was set to begin.

"I want to get out of here,'' he said. "We're organised and ready to go.

It's the usual last-minute, frantic getting-stuff-on-the-boat routine. It looks like there's going to be a little more breeze than we've heard so that's going to be good. At least we're not going to go out there and float around.'' Couper, also going through last-minute details aboard Vivace was optimistic because of the weather outlook.

"The fog's now clearing and they're predicting a small boat race and if that holds true then it should be fun for us and sorry for the big guys.'' Besides Bermuda and the United States, there are entries from Canada, England, Argentina, Italy and South Africa.