Royal Bermuda Yacht Club's marina is now a virtual sell-out for this year's Newport-Bermuda Race that starts on June 20.

Marina manager James Barns reported this week that only one berth remained, but within minutes Bob and Farley Towse's Blue Yankee took the last slot. Now it is 'waiting list only' at the host club.

After only three weeks of online entry for the race, 156 boats have already registered. Of those 55 are new boats although some repeat owners have new craft.

The 2006 Centennial Race attracted a record-breaking 264 boats.

"Of those 144 boats with reserved slips," commented race chairman Nick Nicholson, "31 have not yet applied for entry in the race, so we have a probable fleet of 186 boats to date."

"A large number of our race veterans have yet to apply," he continued, "so I am urging the Bermuda Race Organising Committee to get on the phone with those owners they know who intend to race and get them in gear."

Ralph Richardson, Commodore of the RBYC said: "Even though the RBYC marina is full, our friends at the Royal Hamilton Amateur Dinghy Club at the endof Hamilton Harbour have plenty of berths available. We plan to have a water shuttle to connect the two clubs as we did in 2006."

This year's event will be very similar to that of 2006. The Offshore Racing Rule (ORR) will again be used as the primary handicapping system for all major divisional prizes including the St David's Lighthouse and the Gibbs Hill Lighthouse Trophies, the Carleton Mitchell Finisterre Trophy, the Royal Mail Trophy and the Philip Weld Prize.

Yachts in the St David's Lighthouse and the Gibbs Hill Lighthouse divisions that also choose to race under IRC will compete for a significant new keeper trophy, the North Rock Beacon Trophy, presented by the RBYC.

The new award is a silver and bronze replica of the lattice tower that warned mariners of Bermuda's northern reef from 1960 to 1990 crafted by the same silversmiths who make the famous Bermuda Race lighthouse trophies.

All yachts in this year's event will be required to have a 'fully measured' ORR certificate and those electing to race for the IRC trophy will need an endorsed IRC certificate as well.

The fleet will be divided into the same divisions as in 2006.

The largest is the St David's Lighthouse division for amateur helmsmen and mainly amateur crews. Next is the Cruiser Division, dedicated to more restricted amateur competition, but with spinnakers restricted to one asymmetrical. There will also be a double-handed division and also the Gibbs Hill Lighthouse division for professional programmes.

The Open division (formerly Demonstration) is for supermaxis, cant-keelers, Volvo classes and open 40s, 50s, and 60s.

However, there will be stricter limits on the number of ISAF Group Two and Group Three competitors allowed in the St. David's Lighthouse division and the Cruiser divisions to encourage more amateur crews.

The race has been sailed from Newport, Rhode Island to Bermuda since 1936.

It now stands with the Fastnet, the Sydney-Hobart and the Transpac as one of the top four ocean races in the world.