and East End Mini Yacht Club, have succeeded in getting the Comet International Championship Regatta out of the United States for the first time in its 60-year history.

And now the stage is set for a thrilling three-day regatta next week in the Great Sound involving 15 local and 12 overseas boats.

The new National Sailing Centre in Dockyard will be a hive of activity next Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday with two races held each day with five of the six races to count. Friday has been reserved as a spare day in case of inclement weather.

"We'll have the whole Great Sound to ourselves,'' said Regatta Chairman Gladwin Lambert, who will be one of the local favourites along with Stevie Dickinson, Malcolm Smith and Rudy Bailey. Dickinson, Smith, Bailey and Lambert were the top four finishers in that order in the four-race territorial sail-off on July 12 in St. George's Harbour to determine Bermuda's 15 representatives from an original list of 19. Howard Lee, Shannon Simmons, David Wall, Darren Heyliger, Byron McCallan and Mickey Berkeley completed the top 10.

"Stevie, Rudy and Malcolm have a lot of hope to do well in this regatta,'' said Lambert, who has vast experience himself having competed in 11 internationals overseas. "In three regattas lately they've been in the running every time.'' Of the Bermuda skippers competing against the cream of the Americans, only Stevie Dickinson has won won the International Regatta -- in 1989.

The visiting fleet has some previous winners, led by defending champion Jamie Hilton who is the secretary-treasurer of the Comet Yacht Racing Association and two-time winners Mark Beaton and Mark Hess. Dick Harmon, the third vice president, will also be competing. Beaton, a sailmaker, bought Dickinson's Scorpion and actually won an international regatta in it before selling it and has since been using Colin Clarke's boat which has been in the United States.

The visiting skippers will be travelling with their crews but only two boats are being brought in, which means they'll be borrowing local Comets.

Mark Garriga, who is the chief measurer of the boats and a competitor himself, having been here twice for International Race Week, is due in today to begin measuring and checking the boats from tomorrow. The boats have to be weighed and bounced, for balancing of the hull, and the boats have to weigh no less than 265lbs.

"This is one of our dreams as far as hosting the Comet Internationals in Bermuda,'' said Lambert. "We've (Bermuda skippers) been going up there for at least 20 years. Our bid for it went in two years ago and they took six months considering the bid.

A practice race will be held on Monday at 2 p.m. with the first of two races each day starting at 12 noon.

Fleet Bermuda: Stevie Dickinson, David Wall, Darren Heyliger, Byron McCallon, Colin Clarke, Dale Brangman (all EEMYC), Gladwin Lambert, Rudy Bailey, Howard Simmons, Shannon Simmons, Howard Lee (all West End), Malcolm Smith, Odwin Berkeley, Lawrence Hendrickson, Leon Raynor (all Mid Atlantic).

United States: Jamie Hilton, John Mullen, Mark Garriga, Dick Harmon, Russ Hyslip, Jim Knab, Tom Converse, Bob Griswold, Mark Beaton, Joe McCann, Mark Hess, Josh Goldman.

The 16 foot Comet was designed 60 years ago by C.Lowndes Johnson, a past international Star class champion, as a smaller centreboard version of the Star. There are some 162 clubs involved in comet sailing in the United States, most on the east coast.