Kirk Cooper's sloop Alphida captured line honours for the second consecutive time and broke the four-year-old record for elapsed time held by Warren Brown's War Baby , when she sailed across the finish line off St. David's late on Monday night.

Her time of 78 hours, 34 minutes and 42 seconds eclipsed the previous mark by a mere 21 seconds and it was not until yesterday afternoon that Cooper and his crew were even aware of the feat they had accomplished.

Cooper and his crew were the toast of the town as they savoured the fruits of yet another successful voyage.

All last week the buzz around Marion was whether the veteran yachtsman would be able to contest the record. Crew member Peter Bromby went so far as to guarantee it would happen and his services as a prognosticator may soon be in demand.

"It's pretty remarkable to be able to go out and actually do it,'' said Cooper soon after receiving confirmation of the result. "We didn't know we had it when we got in and actually thought we were a bit off.

"This just makes the whole crew feel good and it is very rewarding. It's absolutely fantastic.'' Alphida looked like it would shatter the previous mark by hours rather than seconds until running into low winds just off Bermuda, which dramatically hindered their progress.

"The light air cost us,'' said Cooper as he and his crew relaxed at the Royal Bermuda Yacht Club. "We were in a good position to do a real job on it (record), but got caught up.

"Early yesterday (Monday) morning it looked like we might shave several hours off of the record and we ran into about seven hours of flat, maybe three to four knot, winds.'' Cooper regarded the trip as one of his best rides down from the east coast and held particular praise for his crew -- Nick Nicholson, Bill Dawson, Brian Hillier, Peter Bromby, John Brooks, Mick Finegan, Ken Lamb, Tom Miller, Richard Shulman, Blair and Scot Simmons, Ron Stan and Malcolm (Chilibop) Wilson.

The Bermudian threw out the gauntlet early when Alphida was first around the final mark indicating the end of Buzzard's Bay. This after starting last with Class A.

A thick fog made manoeuvering difficult, but navigator Nicholson made sure they got through this initial period of turmoil unscathed and once on the open seas sailed relatively smoothly and close to the rhumb line.

Even the vaunted Gulf Stream could do little to impede their progress and played a lot easier than in previous years.

Scratch boat Krisujen of the United States, skippered by Joseph Dockery, was second across the finish line in 82:38:48 followed by another American yacht Escapade (Denis Seynhaeve) in 85:24:28 elapsed time.

Meanwhile, first time Marion skipper, Buddy Rego celebrated victory on corrected time in Class A as his sloop Tsunami sailed home in 86:37:21 corrected to 75:52:21.

"I haven't come off the ground yet,'' an obviously elated Rego exclaimed.

"We're quite surprised about the whole deal, we didn't expect this at all.

"We sailed hard all the way and had a lot of experienced sailors on board. I have to contribute most of the success to the crew...they really wanted it.'' The Frers 41 may have been the smallest craft in the class, but it certainly stood tall yesterday.

At press time all but one of the local entries had arrived -- Tonka , Starr Trail , Tsunami , Lullaby , Vivace and Alphida -- with only Leslie Swainson's Baltic 37 Sheherazade yet to find her way into port. There were originally eight entries from Bermuda, but Nicholas Dill's Dillightful retired.

In addition over half the fleet had completed the 645-mile passage, with Wildflower increasingly looking like it will capture overall honours and with it the Royal Hamilton Amateur Dinghy Club Trophy for her corrected time of 70:12:07.

Tonka , owned by Phil Hubbard, was once again in line for the Corporation of Hamilton Trophy as the first Bermuda boat on corrected time. His reading of 75:34:01 giving him an 18-plus minute advantage over Rego.

HEADING FOR HOME -- Buddy Rego and his crew aboard Tsunami make their way through a foggy Buzzard's Bay in Cape Cod, Massachusetts, at the start of the Marion to Bermuda race last week.