the year 2000 -- and organisers are already looking for young Islanders to get involved.

Up to 140 boats -- the largest ever international fleet of sail training vessels -- are likely to register for the event which gives young people the opportunity to work as crew members on one or other of the various routes.

The 1998 race, from Cornwall in the UK to Dublin via Lisbon, got underway last Sunday.

The Tall Ships 2000 event will start in the spring of that year with simultaneous races from the English south coast port of Southampton and northern Italian port of Genoa to Cadiz in Spain.

There will then be a westbound trans-Atlantic stage from Cadiz to Bermuda, from where the vessels will cruise in company to Boston. A third race will commence from there to Halifax, Nova Scotia, in mid-summer with the final stage eastbound across the Atlantic to Amsterdam in Holland.

Brian Billings, chairman of the youth participation committee, is urging people aged between 16 and 23 who are interested in taking part to get in touch with him on 292-6899. No experience is necessary.

Bermuda has twice staged the event before, in 1976 and 1984.