It was the definitive portrait of ecstacy as Geoffrey (Dickie) Bird watched eagerly from the media boat as 77 boats left Buzzard's Bay en route to Bermuda in the 10th Marion to Bermuda race on Friday. Bird and former Marion native David Kingery -- the race's founding fathers -- first came up with the idea of a Marion to Bermuda sailing race a decade ago when they were cruising in the eastern Leeward Islands. Since then the happy-go-lucky Bermudian has enjoyed a "Bird's-eye view'' of a race which has grown in prominence in yacht racing circles around the world. Bird was a frequent visitor to the Beverly Yacht Club last week, greeting visitors in the trophy-laden living room or watching as sailors make last-minute preparations from the wide veranda facing Sippican Harbour. During a dinner honouring Bermuda participants at the club on Wednesday, Bird was presented with a framed print, and was saluted by all the guests with a hearty round of applause. Bird has become something of a legend in Marion, an entertaining houseguest with a vast repartee of sailing stories, staying this year with Faith and Charlie Paulsen across the harbour. "We know all the people up here,'' said Bird, sipping on a drink last week. "They've all become very close friends for me...it's been 20 years now and it's always a great delight to come up here. "I mean there aren't even any hotels here so when people come up everybody stays in everybody's houses. It really is a bit like old home week and then they come to Bermuda where we do the same thing for them.'' Bird was particularly pleased that Kingery, now based in Tucson, Arizona, will be visiting Bermuda this week. "David really was the arch-starter of the race,'' Bird said modestly, but firmly. "I was his back-up. But he and I worked on the idea together.'' As the two sailed with friends across the West Indies, "we sort of said there must be some way of having a race where you don't have to buy a new boat all the time and for people who don't want to play (with) spinnakers and things like that. And where you can also take your families...the antithesis, really, to the dog-eat-dog type of racing.'' Bird expected an entry list of just 50 boats for that first race in 1977, but the final total exceeded 100 with 104 vessels crossing the start line. His boat was among that total, but his journey to Bermuda finished almost as quickly as it began. "I had a collision and I had to come back,'' he said. What Bird remains most pleased about Marion to Bermuda is the course the race -- now in its 18th year -- has put the Royal Hamilton Amateur Dinghy Club on. Bird is a past commodore of the Paget club.

"It's been very good for Bermuda and it's been very good for the Dinghy Club because it helps give us another form of racing,'' he said. "It's a race which we didn't have before and, of course, it filled in nicely alternating with (Newport to Bermuda) which is also good for Bermuda. "Plus it put the Beverly Yacht Club on the map of ocean sailing.'' Although Bird writes of the constant struggle to retain the race's original objectives in this year's guidebook, he is unfazed that the number of entries in the fleet is at an all-time low. "We always like to have a few more,'' he said. "But I'm not disappointed...I mean any yacht race that has 80 boats in it has a big fleet. It's gone up and down just like the Newport to Bermuda. This year there was some conflicting dates with other races which is one of the reasons. And there might be other minor reasons for some people not coming in.'' The pride and joy of the race for most organisers and competitors remains celestial navigation -- no one is permitted to use electronic instruments for navigating except within 50 miles of land at the start and finish. "I hope things don't change,'' Bird said. "The objects of the race from the first race, well, I think those objects still apply. "I think what we've always stressed is that people should be competent navigators, that on each boat there should be competent navigator, a celestial navigator...somebody who can actually take his sights and produce his position on a chart. "Of course, although these wonderful hand-held sets you can buy now for $300 will give you an instant position, you're only going to drop them overboard or you might not have a spare one. Or the batteries go or get wet. "We still feel there ought to be one race where celestial navigation is required because we think it's essential. It's all very well to say electronics will do everything, but it won't do everything.'' Surprisingly, however, Bird is "not a great believer in rules and regulations and I break the law all the time because that's my nature,'' he said with a smile. "The first race we had very few rules at all...probably half the size of what they are now. Slowly as time went on it became necessary for us to have more rules and regulations because you have to remember this particular race generally more than half of our entries have never done an ocean crossing before. They've done coastal races because we make them do that but generally half the boats you'll find in this race it's the first time they've ever done an ocean crossing.'' He views the race as a ideal training ground for up-and-coming sailors and Bird is a frequent speaker at symposiums on various aspects of the race. "It's about racing in general and being at sea,'' he added. "Safety at sea is one of the things that we work on, I think, probably harder than anything else because it isn't a job for boys really...just jumping into a boat and sailing to Bermuda. Nine times out of ten it would be wonderful and you get away with it but the tenth time you wouldn't.'' In his mid-70s, but looking younger, Bird himself doesn't sail as often these days. He also isn't afraid to voice his opinion on any matter -- sailing or otherwise. "But you might keep those things for my biography.'' PHOTO CLUBHOUSE -- The Beverly Yacht Club has become one of the pre-eminent yachting clubs in the eastern United States, partly as a result of the Marion to Bermuda yacht race. The Club has been based at this site since 1955, a welcome starting point for sailors readying their boats for the long Bermuda trip.

DICKIE BIRD -- One of the race's founding fathers.

MARION RACE SAILING