At 38 feet, Colin Couper's Vivace is the smallest sailboat registered for the Newport to Bermuda race, but he has big plans for her beginning tomorrow.

Sailing in his second Newport contest, Couper, a Bermuda doctor, would like nothing more than to have a better shot at the silverware in the Cruising Division this time around.

"We didn't do well at all (in 1992),'' he said yesterday from the tiny quarters inside his boat. "It was a windward race and this boat does not do well into the wind, so we're hoping for following winds as much as possible.

Last year in the Marion race we were fourth in our class so we have placed, but we hope to do a bit better this year.'' Fresh from an early morning five-mile run, Couper appeared relaxed, but apologised for the untidy conditions down below. Try to imagine a child's room following a full day of play.

"Everything will be nice and tidy by Friday, everything will be put away,'' he said. "It's a little embarrassing when it's this messy, but we're working on a lot of things right now.'' While joking with fellow crew members about using a visiting reporter for the man overboard exercise, Couper spent part of yesterday stocking up on groceries -- enough for three full weeks -- plenty of Dinty Moore beef stew to feed the entire 163-boat fleet expected to sail tomorrow morning for the start of the 635-mile race. Fresh produce, and there'll be lots of that, too, will be purchased today.

Also today, Couper, along with David Lewis, Jonathan Brewin, Somers Kempe, Drew Dominick and the two James Burnett-Herkes -- senior and junior -- will spend the last few hours leading up to tomorrow's start by making final preparations, making sure everyone knows exactly what they have to do during what they hope will be a four days or less voyage to Bermuda.

Vivace , a Sabre-designed sloop formerly known as Over Ride is part of 22 boats sailing in the Cruising non-spinnaker class, joined by one other Bermuda entry, Nicholas Dill's Dillightful .

Couper, who has owned Vivace since 1989, is hoping the heavy fog which has plagued the area since Tuesday will dissipate completely by Friday, and signs were that things could be clearer for tomorrow's start. Temperatures also soared to a humid 90 degrees yesterday after a crackling lightning storm the night before.

"Well, we don't have radar, but with 160 blips going all over the radar screen that would be a bit disconcerting, so it may be best that we don't have one,'' said Couper, while the screeching cries of seagulls could be heard from above. "They're (race committee) hedging their bets at the moment, not sure when the fog is going to lift but it's better than yesterday. It was very thick at 6.30 this morning.'' As the boat swayed back and forth in the northeast corner of Newport Harbour, Couper grumbled about the amount of paperwork needed to be done prior to the race and was about to go through a safety drill with Dominick, the only crew member from the United States.

"He hasn't been through all the safety gear and the drill, so we're going to go over all that with him. He's already been given a printout, which he's read, that we've prepared specifically for this race.'' A few moments later, pointing to a diagram taped to a wall, he added: "I'll show him each one of those, the flares, the abandon ship bag that's here, we'll go through the contents of that. That's crammed full of stuff that you might need should something unforseen happen.'' Couper, known as a stickler for safety, said many of the decisions needed to be made will be discussed as a team, but he will have the final say on what he considers the most important area of all.

"If we're trying to make a decision for dinner, yeah it's by committee,'' he said, smiling. "But if it's any question about safety there's no discussion.

We're very safety conscious.'' Many of those safety concerns will be addressed tonight at the captain's meeting, where skippers also will be briefed on weather patterns and the conditions surrounding the Gulf Stream, considered the make-or-break portion of the race.

Although he planned to take Vivace for a sail early this morning, Couper is anxious for the race to begin.

"I'm getting to that stage, because we've done all the details,'' he said.

"We're lucky actually because having sailed her up two weekends ago we managed to iron out any problems, we really had a good shakedown. Whereas the boats from the US, unless they're sailing on a regular basis and I'm sure there are some that have just come off the slip, they would be more nervous.'' Later he added: "The day of the race I won't be sitting here calmly, (tomorrow) it'll start to be a madhouse around here. It's pretty exciting at the start and this year it's going to be different because I gather there's going to be about 160 boats and they're going to be all over the place. The worst that could happen is that someone collides. Certainly that's a possibility.'' His wife, Peggy, is set to arrive today, but the well-known Bermuda runner will leave for Duluth, Minnesota, soon after the start of the race to participate in a marathon.

After that Couper will be engaged in his own long-distance marathon of sorts.

"I think it's an awful lot of fun to get seven guys together and face this challenge,'' he said. "The friendships that develop and the times one has, bringing the boat up and taking it back, are more than worth the irksome details of filling in forms and planning meals and making sure all the safety stuff is up to scratch.

"My emphasis is in the first instance safety, the second is to have fun and third is let's try and go the best that we can in terms of getting there fastest.''