Patch series in June.

The boat that has been chosen is a J44 named the Jalapenos Dos. It is a John Stone 44 which is a One Design Class 44-foot yacht that sleeps 10 people and is said by Walker to be a "very comfortable boat to race to Bermuda in.'' The six who have so taken on the unique challenge in addition to Walker are his son Blythe, Craig Davis, Martin Siese, Hughie Watlington and Guy Eldridge.

The senior Walker said that there were others interested in joining them. "We have a 16-man team at the moment, but we will need a few more and would like to hear from anybody who is keen.'' While he refused to disclose the cost for the charter, Walker did reveal that it did not come with a heavy price tag.

"The cost is not considerable, it's a wonderful opportunity and a great chance to compete in a lot of racing. We are sharing the cost, so it's not a free ride for anybody,'' he asserted.

The Jalapenos Dos, which will be crewed by 20 Bermudians over a two-month period, will first compete in the Spring Regatta in Newport on June 9 and 10 -- two races which will constitute the first two races of the Onion Patch series.

Then they will tackle the Newport to Bermuda Race which will start on June 17, the third race in the series, followed by the two final races in the series to be held here starting on June 24.

It will mark the first time Bermuda will have hosted the Onion Patch series.

Once the racing is completed in Bermuda the Jalapenos Dos will then sail back to Newport to compete in the week-long New York Yacht Club's (NYYC) 150th Anniversary Regatta, a five-race regatta in Newport.

The series of races in Newport will be hosted by the NYYC, but there will be an individual host on a daily basis of the most venerable clubs in the world, including the RBYC.

The original idea of whipping together an all-Bermuda team and chartering a boat came during a casual talk among skippers at the RBYC while they were sitting around after the completion of a Newport to Bermuda Race a couple of years ago.

"We were talking about how Bermuda was always having a hard time getting an Onion Patch team together. We had Jim Bishop who is not a Bermudian but a RBYC member, John Osborne who was a member of the team in 1992 and not a Bermudian, all representing Bermuda and we just thought it would be nice to see Bermudians doing their own thing,'' recalled Walker.

"So we said `let's go charter a boat' and see if we can get some of our own guys to either charter boats or bring their own boats to make up a team. The concept was to make sure we had our own Bermuda team in the Onion Patch series and Newport to Bermuda race for 1994.'' So an approach was eventually made to a broker in New York and the path led to the Jalapenos Dos.

"We negotiated with the broker back last summer. We negotiated a charter fee and the broker said that he would find us a good boat to race to Bermuda and he had this J44 among his inventory,'' said Walker.

Walker believes that the local group were fortunate to come up with such a quality boat, noting that he saw it two years ago in Annapolis, Maryland, when it was brand new.

"She has a brand new inventory of sails and she is certainly among the best J44s that is available for charter. The J44s were designed about 10 years ago and they have been a very successful racing class boat. They are not built very easily and they retain their value and they are still winning races.

Perhaps the most famous is a boat called Iona which won the Fastnet Race back in 1989,'' said Walker.

"Since then the boats continue to rack up successes in ocean races world-wide. Perhaps their weaknesses is that they are not a very good around the buoy's racer because the lighter, faster boats are beating them. But they are strong over the long haul.'' A welcome addition for the local group is the owner of the Jalapenos Dos, Edward Dinker of New York.

"He is a qualified marine engineer and he knows all about his boat. He is not only going to join us on the trip to Bermuda, but for all of the racing because he knows all of the mechanical devices on the boat and knows just how they work. If they break down he will know just how to fix them,'' said Walker.

The concept of chartering a boat has really sparked interest among Bermudians to particpate in the races.

Francis Carter has reportedly chartered a maxi boat from Italy and Kirk Cooper has his own boat that has been completely refurbished.

Steve Vandyke also has an excellent boat and the trio will undoubtedly form a formidable number one team for Bermuda in the Onion Patch series.

CHARTER MEMBER -- Jordy Walker will head an elite group of Bermudian skippers in the prestigious Onion Patch series, which includes the Newport to Bermuda race.