The boat which kept tabs on the Newport race fleet is more usually concerned with tracking sharks than yachts.

Geronimo , a 70-foot cutter owned by the St. George's School in Rhode Island, was chosen to be the communications vessel.

Her primary function was to receive daily short side band radio position reports, relay weather advisory information and co-ordinate emergency operations.

But her regular voyages are more concerned with introducing students to oceanography and part of that entails tagging sharks and sea turtles in co-operation with the National Marine Fisheries Service and the Archie Carr Centre for Sea Turtle Research.

During the race, Geronimo sailed with a full complement of professional crew and students, plus three members of the Race Committee on board.

She was equipped with a 300-watt SEA SSB radio, plus a back-up SSB radio, KVH satellite Tracphone 25, a VHF radio, a cell phone and a portable satellite phone.

The partnership between the race and St. George's, a co-ed boarding school in Newport, should prove beneficial to both sides.

Geronimo students will be on the first leg of their research cruise to the Azores. For them, this was an opportunity to learn about the management of an offshore race, especially the efforts made to ensure the safety of the vessels and crews who participate and high seas, ship-to-ship, ship-to-shore communications, as well as being introduced to extensive weather forecasting information.

Geronimo operates year-round carrying St. George's students on six-week cruises. The on-board faculty teaches marine science and English and the students continue their other courses by correspondence with teachers at school.

The purpose of the programme is to provide an at-sea introduction to oceanography and the disciplines and rewards of life at sea.

After the race finishes, Geronimo was due to sail to the Azores to study pelagic stage loggerhead turtles.

Then she will sail on to Spain, where she will operate during the fall, studying neonatal blue sharks on the nursery grounds off the coast of the Iberian peninsula.

And in the Winter, Geronimo will operate in the Bahamas, where the students will study sea turtles in shallow water feeding habitats.

Protector of the fleet: Communications boat Geronimo which made the crossing from Newport with the racers.

SAILING SLG