arrives hours ahead of predicted time By Jonathan Kent A recurring back injury prevented veteran Bermudian yachtsman from grabbing his third line honour when Temptress crossed the line off St. David's Head four days after setting out from Marion, Massachusetts four days earlier.

But Kirk Cooper was with the crew in spirit as they set out on the race -- for many of them, including American owner Richie Schulman had crewed on his own yacht, Alphida when it twice took line honours in the Marion-Bermuda Cruising Yacht Race.

Cooper greeted Schulman and four Bermudians -- Brian Hillier, Billy Dawson, Malcolm (Chilibop) Wilson and Ron Stan -- were among the crew, at dockside as they celebrated victory on Tueasday morning.

Temptress , a 51-foot white sloop based in Barrington, Rhode Island, crossed the finishing line at 11.11 a.m., nearly four days after the fleet of 104 had set out from Marion, Massachusetts.

Schulman paid tribute to the four Islanders among his 11-man crew and particularly to Cooper, who suffered a back injury while sailing in a regatta at Newport and had to rule himself out.

"A lot of the guys we had on board had sailed with Kirk before and I can tell you he was with us in spirit,'' said Schulman.

"When I sailed with Kirk in the Marion race in 1991, it was my first experience of offshore sailing and it got me hooked, so I feel like I owe him a lot.'' As the boat pulled in to the harbour of race hosts the Royal Hamilton Amateur Dinghy Club, the triumphant crew punched the air with delight.

And Cooper, having missed out on the voyage, did not miss out on the celebrations, as he greeted his colleagues with congratulatory hugs on the quayside.

Cooper said: "I'm delighted for them. They're a great bunch of guys and it's a great boat, but of course I'm sorry I could not have been aboard.

"To be honest, I thought they were going to win all along, because it's a great boat and if they sailed it right it would have a good chance.

"I wanted to go, but the doctors said it was just not on. It's a recurring injury and I have to rest it so I can do some more sailing in the future.'' Temptress was second to finish last year's Newport-Bermuda race, losing out to Kodiak by just four-and-a-half minutes.

Ironically, the Kodiak navigator on that occasion, Dan Dyer, was this time aboard Temptress .

Wilson felt Dyer had been the key to Temptress completing the 645-mile crossing faster than the opposition in what he felt had been a fairly straightforward voyage.

"The wind was light at the start,'' said Wilson. "Once we got out of Buzzards Bay, it was like the Manhattan skyline, a parade of red lights, because we could see everybody else.'' But Wilson, 48, a veteran of more Bermuda races than he cares to remember and part of Cooper's crew which broke the Marion race record on Alphida in 1993, said the going had become livelier once the boat had hit the Gulf Stream.

"Going through the Stream, we were like a frisby in a concrete mixer, but we were making eight to 10 knots.

"Once we got through (the Gulf Stream), it was much smoother sailing, with the wind from the southwest averaging 13 to 16 knots.'' Wilson added that the crew had first sighted land early yesterday morning and suspected they were going to win.

"We could not be sure of it, but we had a good idea we were in front. We couldn't see anybody else and the radio was very quiet which is a good indication,'' he said.

For the first time in the 22-year history of the race, there were separate classes for celestial and electronic navigation.

Dyer was able to use state-of-the-art equipment, which constantly pinpointed the exact position of Temptress via satellite, as the boat was racing in Class B, for the largest yachts using electronic.

Dyer said the winning formula had been similar to the one he had used to finish first with Kodiak in the 1998 Newport race.

"I used the same strategy as last year -- that is I figured out the last leg of the race first,'' said Dyer.

"We tried to work it so that we would have a good angle to finish, whether the wind turned out to be blowing from the south-east or the south-west.

"We got a nice current from a clockwise-moving warm eddy north of Bermuda and we had some good winds of 10 to 15 knots blowing us along for a day and a half.'' Dyer also revealed that the early arrival of Temptress had taken race organisers by surprise.

Members of the Race Committee, who were not expecting the first boat to arrive until late afternoon, had to rush to their vantage point next to St. David's Lighthouse to verify the boat's finish. They only just got there in time.

Dyer said: "When we got close to the finish I couldn't raise anyone on the radio. I told the guys the good news was that we were nearly there, but the bad news was there was no-one to see us do it!'' Other American members of the victorious crew were Nick Nicholson, Ian McKechnie, Jay Schane and Doogie Couvreau.

The Temptress crew were waiting yesterday to find out whether they had scooped first place overall prize, which is awarded on a corrected time basis.

War Path: Bermudian Warren Brown's War Baby was 36th on corrected time in the Marion Race at press time yesterday. She crossed the finish line at 8 p.m. on Tuesday.

Top gun: Temptress, owned by Richard Schulman, set from Buzzards Bay. The vessel, with four Bermudians on board as crew, was first across the line.

Victory: The crew of Temptress celebrate at the Royal Hamilton Amateur Dinghy Club after taking line honours in the 1999 Marion-Bermuda Race.

SAILING SLG