Champion powerboat racer Kirk Roberts told one of the two fishermen who took him to meet a passing a sailboat off Bermuda that he was picking up "weed", a Supreme Court jury heard yesterday.

According to witness, Stephen Cabral Jr., Roberts was also aware that Police might be watching the activities that night and warned the fishermen not to go in shore.

Roberts, 40, of Sandys, and Alphonso Cyril Holder, 37, of St. Vincent, are accused of conspiring with others, not before to the court, to import cannabis in December 2000.

Cabral Jr., a Crown witness testified yesterday that he was on the fishing boat Sea Scorpion III with Roberts and his father, Stephen Cabral Sr., the night the deep sea drug exchange was made.

Last week, his father testified that Roberts offered to pay him $50,000 to meet the sailboat.

Cabral Sr. said he intended to pay his son $10,000 of that money for helping him. Yesterday, Cabral Jr. told the court, Sea Scorpion met the sailboat off shore of Challenger Banks on December 18, 2000.

And he echoed earlier testimony, that an off shore meeting planned for the previous night failed due to poor weather. In addition to the Cabrals and Roberts, there were two other men on the boat during the first attempt, Cabral said yesterday - Lawson Williams and Allan Simons (aka `Gaddafi').

The five men set off with groceries, a dozen jerry jugs of fuel, an inflatable dinghy and an outboard motor to meet the sailboat in very rough seas, the court heard.

"I saw Gaddafi holding onto the ladder for the upstairs station," Cabral said. "I saw him get thrown in the air and land on his back."

Although the men stayed off shore all night, they never met the sailboat. When they returned to shore, the boat was a mess and over the course of cleaning the next morning, Cabral said he found a pair of "night vision scopes".

"I knew they weren't mine or my dad's," Cabral said.

Later in the day, Roberts contacted his father and the three men set out to sea again, he added. Roberts told the Cabrals to turn off their radio and running lights as he had the night before.

"Kirk came out of the cabin and he told me `tonight is the night'," Cabral said. "He told me he'd made contact with the sailboat and that we would definitely meet the sailboat at Challenger Banks tonight."

He continued: "I asked Kirk what it was we were supposed to be collecting and, he told me, `weed'."

As the Sea Scorpion proceeded to the meet, Cabral said he began to feel nervous.

"I realised what I was involved with," he said.

"What was that," asked Prosecutor Shade Subair.

"A drug deal," Cabral replied.

Sea Scorpion III met the sailboat and Cabral said he helped Roberts pull a duffel bag onto the boat.

"He asked me to help him lift it because the bag had no handles and was very heavy," Cabral said.

"Once we got it on our boat I noticed it was a big, black suitcase or duffel bag."

The groceries and fuel jugs were passed to the sailboat, which was captained by a man with an accent, he added.

"After Kirk had passed over the groceries and jerry jugs, that was when I noticed a man I had never seen before walking down the port side of Sea Scorpion," he continued.

"He was about six feet tall, wearing full, foul weather gear and had a plastic bag in his hand.

"I heard Kirk tell him we didn't need any help on board our boat and he said he was coming ashore with us."

Cabral said the man later introduced himself as "Blacka" or "Black Man".

The court heard earlier in the trial accused Holder refers to himself as "Black Man".

Cabral said Roberts suspected Police might be watching.

"Kirk told my dad and I, that if we were to go in, the Police would probably stop us because they were probably watching out for us," he said.

The Cabrals then dropped Roberts and Holder with the inflatable dinghy, the motor and - "the black canvas bag we had pulled in and also another black canvas bag that I never did see come on board," the witness said.

Roberts and Holder set off in the dinghy. Cabral said they were roughly eight miles off shore and it was still dark.

A few hours later, Police boarded Sea Scorpion III and the Cabrals were arrested, the court heard.

In addition, to Cabral the court heard from Police Insp. Gary Venning and former Harbour Radio Senior Officer James Findlay yesterday.

Both men told the court, they boarded Sea Scorpion III and read and recorded a list of geographic locations - or way points - from the GPS on board.

Cabral Jr. is expected to continue his testimony today.