decrease of entries as first thought, revealed public relations officer Bruce Lines yesterday.

There were rumours that a combination of the recession and conflicting races on the United States east coast would mean a smaller number of sailors will compete in Bermuda this year, but this now has apparently been ruled out.

"The numbers are actually the same as last year,'' said Lines, despite the number of conflicting overseas tournaments that will feature many of the Lasers and Tornado sailors who normally compete here.

A good turn-out of local sailors has made up for whatever shortage there would have been from the unavailability of foreign competitors, but organisers still firmly believe that the event has not lost any of its glamour.

"It still has a fairly high international stature,'' insisted Lines. "For the IODs and Snipes this is certainly a major event. The Lasers has just been designed an Olympic class and this is something which has revitalised the class worldwide while the Etchells class is still an exciting class to watch.'' There are a total of 13 sailors who have entered the IOD class, 19 in the Snipes, 10 Comet, 14 Sunfish, 12 Laser, eight Tornado, 15 Etchells, 10 J-24.

The IODs will once again see top Bermuda sailor Peter Bromby competing and defending his overall Race Week title for the third year running.

Next week he will be aiming for his fifth win in the event as he tackles the fleet after having retained the IOD World Championship in Marblehead in September.

Last year was a busy one for Bromby, which saw him compete in the Star Class at the Barcelona Olympics in addition to pursuits in the IODs and in Fitted Dinghies as well.

This year has seen Bromby branch out even further as he became more involved in the new Olympic Laser Class after having competed in the recent local Frostbite series and other class racing.

There is also talk that he will be again represent Bermuda this year at the CAC Games in Puerto Rico in the J-24s.

In addition to his busy schedule Bromby also has the Omega Gold Cup to challenge for again, having bowed out in the quarter-finals last year to the eventual winner Russell Coutts of New Zealand.

Bromby's crew in Race Week will consist of Mickey Cox, Lee White, Malcolm Wilson and Cindy Young.

Bermuda's other representatives in the class will be Rick Thompson and Jordy Walker, two seasoned IOD sailors with fine records in both local and international IOD sailing.

Thompson has competed in Race Week many times and is always in the running, but this year he will have his work cut out for him.

Walker is another sailor who needs no introduction to Race Week, but he will be sailing IODs for the first time in several years and may be hard pressed to show much of his old form. His son Blythe will be among his crew.

The class will have 10 foreign entrants this year, which will take the fleet to 13. The foreign sailors are Jeff Salzman and James O'Brien who will be co-skippers from the Fisher's Island IOD Fleet, Jim Bishop and Ken Drewry who will represent the Marblehead fleet, Jock Kohlhas, Henry Mettier, Jan Petter Roed of Norway, Giles Peckham of England, John MacDonald of Scotland, Bill Berry of Marion's Shields fleet and well-known sailmaker Bill Shore of Newport.