theories.

How did the crew of the Mumm 36 boat outsmart the Gulf Stream and sail away with the Grand Prix trophy and first place in the Racing Division? "It was actually a pretty easy ride,'' said co-owner Donald Elliman yesterday, several hours after arriving at the Royal Bermuda Yacht Club. "We never had more than 22 knots of wind and never had really less than five or six knots of wind. And George (co-owner Hinman) and a guy named Morgan Hudson, who was our navigator, kind of plodded the desired course and we did everything we set out to do.

"We hit the stream where we wanted to, we hit the eddy where we wanted to and the boat performed the way we wanted it to.'' Elliman, of New Canaan, Connecticut, and Hinman, of Purchase, New York, along with the rest of their crew were in the spotlight at the RBYC yesterday after they sewed up first place in the Racing Division on corrected time, as the Front Street club rocked in celebration as 102 of the 149 sailboats had arrived in Bermuda by last night.

Alphida , Jalpenos Dos , Tsunami , Monterey and Morgans Cloud , with captains Kirk Cooper, Jordy Walker, Buddy Rego, Les Crane and John Harries, respectively, were the Bermuda entries to make it to home yesterday, joining Francis Carter's Longobarda , the first local boat to arrive on Monday afternoon.

As of last night Morgans Cloud was leading the Class Ten Non-Spinnaker Class.

There were still three Bermuda boats unnacounted for last night -- Vivace , skippered by Colin Couper, Dillightful , with captain Nicholas Dill and Tamarugo with skipper Warren Brown.

But the red-carpet treatment was reserved for Conspiracy after it was announced that the US boat had beaten out 11 other competitors, including Longobarda , to take top prize in the Racing Division. Elliman, Hinman, Hudson and all the crew members -- Richard Werdiger, Peter Rugg, Horold Pike, Bret Hall and John Hourihan, were presented with a bottle of champagne by RBYC commodore Brian Billings.

Conspiracy finished the race in an elapsed time of 87 hours, 21 minutes and 54 seconds but on corrected time stood at 56 hours, 39 minutes and 18 seconds, more than three hours ahead of second-placed Aurora .

The crew later took a nap, but were expected to join the party at the RBYC last night.

"We had a crew that's sort of sailed together a lot and they like to go offshore so it was the best race to do that in,'' said Hinman. "It just turned out to be a great trip for this boat. This is a new class, the Mumm 36s, and it can really excel in conditions where you're doing a lot of reaching and the boat accelerates fast and we didn't have a real batch of bad weather.

"This was probably the best race we've had in terms of the conditions.

They were almost ideal for the race and we were moving the whole time. We didn't get stuck in a hole and we had breeze up until 40 miles until the finish.'' Conspiracy will now sail in the last two races of the Onion Patch series on Friday, part of the New Yacht Club I team that is currently in first place.

"We're just happy as heck that we had a good race and it's the best Bermuda race I've ever had by far,'' said Elliman.

In previous years the boat would have won the Lighthouse Trophy, but a rules change only two weeks before the race prevented boats in the Racing Division from winning one of the most prestigious prizes in sailing.

"We didn't agree with the decision,'' said Elliman. "But the commitee had to make a decision. We felt as amateurs that we should, frankly, have an opportunity to race for the Lighthouse Trophy and still feel very strongly that way.'' THREE CHEERS -- Donald Elliman, left, and George Hinman, owners of Conspiracy , were the toast of the Royal Bermuda Yacht Club after winning the Racing Division on corrected time.

FIRST BACK HOME -- Members of Longobarda , left to right, Francis Carter, Chris Sherlock, Neil Bat, Roger Beach and Wes Pannell had plenty to smile about after being the first Bermuda boat to finish in the Newport to Bermuda race.