Never mind that it's tucked inside a wooden box, stashed among the books on the top shelf in the teak-veneered main dining area, and that it's chances of being used in the Newport-Bermuda Race are, oh, about the same as Robert Mulderig bouncing a cheque.

Like most of the 175-odd other boats expected to line up for next month's biennial classic, Starr Trail 's hi-tech navigational gear has rendered sextants, pencils and charts candidates for the Smithsonian.

Aboard Mulderig's new 72-foot Farr, for instance, LED read-outs, detailing water depth and wind information, are located in every room.

GPS, radar and navigational charts are fed into a central computer. Satellite images and meteorological conditions can be accessed with the click of a mouse. Outside, the helmsan has instant information via a colour, touch-screen computer.

"It's really come alive in the last five years,'' Phil Wilson, Mulderig's long-time sailing buddy and a veteran of four Newport-Bermuda races, says of the electronic gizmos that now dominate the sport.

Mulderig and Wilson finished second in the double-handed Newport-Bermuda Race two years ago on the old Starr Trail . That Freedom 44 has now been replaced with the $2 million high-performance cruiser -- and little was left to chance.

"We were lucky in that the boat was new and we were able to start out with the latest electronics,'' said Wilson.

Purchased last year, she weighs in at 45 tons, although stripped to racing form she may get down to 38, and is capable of 14 knots per hour.

And when the 16-person crew leave for Rhode Island on Monday, they will have comforts of home -- and all the information of NASA.

Not all of it, however, is allowed in the race, notably the Satcom link, which could otherwise supply internet and satellite weather feeds.

"The rule is, if it's not available to everybody, you can't use it,'' said Blair Simmons, the boat's full-time captain (although he'll hand over the wheel to Mulderig for the race).

In a race such as Newport, where there is seldom any tacking, some of the information may be unnecessary. Conversely, when it comes to finding and remaining in the Gulf Stream -- probably the key part of the 635-mile ocean crossing -- it's invaluable.

"You've got loads of information coming in; all you do is just read it,'' said Simmons. And that information, Wilson adds, is "more accurate and more immediate'' than ever before.

For instance, Wilson points to the velocity prediction programme, a database that takes into account all relevant information to act as the boat's "pace-setter,'' meaning the crew gets maximum performance.

At 26, Simmons, son of former world IOD champion Penny, is from the new school of sailing, as comfortable with the 6.5 gigabyte computer as he is with a jib.

"These days, you have to be more electronically and mechanically inclined,'' he said, adding with a laugh, "It's less hands-on and more standing around waiting for something to break.'' Need to raise the sail? Press the button on one four hydraulic winches. Know where you're going? Put it on auto-pilot. Two people, Simmons says, could comfortably sail Starr Trail .

Most of the boats in the race have basically the same apparatus. And all skippers and navigators -- Warren Brown Sr. in the case of Starr Trail -- are given the same weather information a day before the June 19 departure.

That places the emphasis on tactics and decision-making. "It becomes a guessing game, almost: What we see and what we think is going to happen,'' said Simmons.

Sailing the race, of course, is not an inexpensive task.

Even if you already have your boat and crew, spending $30,000 is not unheard of and "even on a low budget, you're talking $10,000 at the very minimum,'' Simmons said.

AT YOUR FINGERTIPS -- Accessing information is easy for Starr Trail captain Blair Simmons.

THE WAR ROOM -- Computers and navigational gear highlight Starr Trail 's command centre.