This year's Newport to Bermuda race looks likely to crack the 200 entry mark by the time the late entry date expires on May 15.

This week race organisers announced that 196 boats have entered so far – two short of the number for the last race in 2008.

The record of 265 starters was set in the 2006 centennial race and June's race looks set to be the third largest in history.

Sinn Fein won the coveted St. David's Lighthouse Trophy in 2008 and 2006 and is again entered this year. If Sinn Fein win this year it will match one of sailing's most hallowed records – three straight Bermuda Race wins by Carleton Mitchell's Finisterre in 1956-60.

"Despite the economic turmoil since the last start, we have a wonderful turnout from around the world, with many new boats and skippers," said race chairman Bjorn Johnson.

The race has a wide range of boats. Niklas Zennstrom's Rán out of Southampton, England last year won the Fastnet Race and also took Class 1 in the Sydney-Hobart race. This cutting-edge 72-footer is one of 63 entries making their first Bermuda Race.

Sinn Fein can't reprise her 2008 duel with Selkie because that boat's skipper, Sheila McCurdy from Rhode Island has duties as Commodore of the Cruising Club of America, the race's co-sponsor with the Royal Bermuda Yacht Club. Two of Sinn Fein's sistership Cal 40s will race. One is Douglas Jurrius' Belle Aurore and the other is Gone with the Wind which Bill LeRoy is shipping east from San Francisco Bay.

Sinn Fein is not the only boat coming back from a victory in 2008. Bermuda Oyster, owned by local sailor Paul Hubbard, will defend the Carleton Mitchell Finisterre Trophy, the top prize in the Cruiser Division.

The three-time Moxie Trophy winner in the Double-Handed Division, Richard du Moulin's Lora Ann, returns in a fleet of two dozen shorthanded racers that include five Class 40 boats. One of them, Desafio Cabo Hornos owned by Felipe Cubillos from Santiago, Chile, finished second in the 2008-09 Portimão Global Ocean Race winning the leg around Cape Horn and also raced in last year's Fastnet and finished third in the 2009 Class 40 World Championship.

The three fastest boats in 2008 are coming back as well.

Speedboat which was the first across the line, is a 99-footer owned by Alex Jackson from California. Also coming is the 90-foot Rambler owned by George David which was second across the line in 2008. Rambler is coming off an extremely successful 2009 with elapsed time and corrected time victories in both the Annapolis to Newport Race and the Marblehead to Halifax Race, plus the Northern Ocean Racing Trophy as top distance racing boat in the northeastern United States.

The third boat to finish in 2008 will also be on the starting line on June 18 – Il Mostro (Puma), which also was second overall in the 2008-2009 Volvo Ocean Race and is sailed by Ken Read. The race starts on June 18 at Newport, where the New York Yacht Club's Sailing Center will serve as race headquarters.

It was also announced this week that the winner of the Race for the Detroit Cup will earn a berth in the Argo Group Gold Cup, a World Match Racing Tour event on October 5-10 at Royal Bermuda Yacht Club.

The Detroit Cup will be sailed on the Detroit River on August 18-22. Returning for this year's Detroit Cup is defending champion and Olympic gold medalist Anna Tunnicliffe who was named 'Yachtswoman of the Year' by Rolex and US Sailing last year.