Bermuda Sloop Foundation’s Spirit of Bermuda will be among the 2013 Marion Bermuda Race participants, The Royal Gazette can reveal.The triple masted schooner has been chartered by local businessman Preston Hutchings and several of his friends and will make its debut in next June’s 645 nautical mile race from Marion, Massachusetts to St David’s, Bermuda.“We are excited by the fact that the Spirit of Bermuda is going to participate and we are trying to make it as interesting as possible for all concerned and for them to try to have the opportunity to actually participate in a competitive way against similar types of boats,” said Marion Bermuda Race executive director Allan McLean.“Our commitment is to try and not only have Spirit of Bermuda participate but, in addition, try and see if we can find some similar boats and actually create a class that they might be able to participate in a competitive way.“We’re certainly interested in trying to see if we can get some additional boats that might be in a similar category as training boats or whatever.”Hutchings added: “My primary interest in this is to help Spirit and other sail-training vessels like her, which as you can imagine, are suffering similarly from the financial crisis, reduced donations and so on.“The idea is to create a class at the Marion Bermuda Race that would permit Spirit and other sail training vessels like her to race with a crew of willing donors to the respective foundations. That’s the essential goal. Plus, I think sailing to Bermuda aboard Spirit will be a lot of fun!”Hutchings is no stranger to the Marion Bermuda Race. In 2007 his NYYC 42 yacht, Morgan’s Ghost, was the first boat across the finish line in a corrected time of three days, 22 hours, 47 minutes and 56 seconds.Since its inception in 1977, the biennial Marion Bermuda Race has evolved into a premier ocean race that appeals to a broad range of non-professional cruising and racing enthusiasts, sailing 32-80 foot Cruising and Racer/Cruising monohull yachts.The race is organised and run entirely by hundreds of volunteering members of Beverly Yacht Club (BYC), Blue Water Sailing Club (BWSC) and Royal Hamilton Amateur Dinghy Club (RHADC) for the Marion Bermuda Cruising Yacht Race Association.Registration is now open for the race. The Notice of Race has been posted and registration is open with discounted entrance fees available through April 15, 2013.Earlier this year Spirit of Bermuda participated in the 635-nautical mile Newport Bermuda Race.The 118 foot schooner was the sole entry in the experimental ‘Spirit of Tradition’ Division, completing the ocean crossing in a corrected time of 73 hours, 20 minutes and 17 seconds.