the Newport-Bermuda Race.

Like high school seniors cramming for a final exam, they listened in rapt attention to final meteorological and Gulf Stream analyses, less than 16 hours before the gun went off for last Friday's staggered start in Newport Harbor.

The Captains' Meeting at the Newport Harbor Hotel and Marina was compulsory for any sailor worth his salt although just how much they learned was debatable. Most of these students came in having done more homework in the past few months than they did in four years of university.

''It's not like previous years when people came into thse meetings cold turkey,'' said Frank Bohlen, an 11-race veteran and a professor of Marine Services at the Unviversity of Connecticut, who led the final briefing.

Bohlen has been sending skippers Gulf Stream updates since January. And thanks to the development of GPS and satellite imagery -- all available on the internet -- a lot of them these days know just as much as their teachers.

Even if they did learn any startling new information, no was sharing it. They are, after all, in a race and to a man, skippers were keeping their charts close to their vest.

"The bottom line is everybody has their pet theories about what the Gulf Stream is going to do,'' said Dr. Colin Couper of Bermuda, making his seventh trip, this time as skipper of Brigadoon VI .

Asked what his strategy was, he just smiled and said "We've got a few ideas.'' Added Les Crane, skippering Monterey , "You'd think that, given the same information, the strategy would be obvious (but) it's amazing how the boats get all over the place. Even in other races when there's been what I would call a very definite strategy, boats still end up all over the map.'' What was his strategey? Crane said it was "in the process of changing'' and would ultimately "be a factor of what the forecast is (in the morning of the race).'' The strategy changed because so did the weather forecast. Officials only talked about the first half of the race and it wasn't particularly good news for those hoping for a record crossing; almost opposite what it was two days earlier.

"I've got a feeling it's not going to be a fast one,'' said RBYC commodore Bruce Lines.

It was a very prophetic comment: The race turned out to be the slowest in 20 years.

Given the wind conditions -- or lack of them -- the prevailing message from experts the night before the race was: Don't hang around Newport.

Race spokesman Talbot Wilson said that contrary to popular theory, 30-knot winds are not essential to a fast crossing and that a consistent 15-knot breeze is more valuable.

"The thing with these big boats, once they get going, they create their own wind,'' he said.

The distance from start to finish is 635 miles southeast, following a compass course of 165 degrees. But that's following the Rhumb line and there probably aren't many skippers who don't deviate somewhat.

That's because of the intimidating presence of the Gulf Stream, that invisible river meandering up around Florida and acting as a great divide between Bermuda and the East coast. Its current adds more than one knot to a boat's speed and in some places as much as four.

Located approximately 100 to 150 nautical miles down the rhumb line, this ocean boundary -- characterised by marked water temperature and colour contrasts -- "represents a juncture every bit as important as the start or finish of the race,'' Bohlen says.

Spun off of the stream are eddies, or whirlpools, spinning clockwise or counterclockwise that skippers and navigators use to assist their passage.

They will also try and find the narrowest part of the stream to avoid straying too far away from Bermuda.

But behind all the talk of gradients and isobars often comes plain old luck.

"Sailors will say you create your luck,'' says Wilson. "(But) you can end up sitting in a hole with no wind for two hours and there goes your race. That's what ocean racing is all about: Good strategy and a bit of luck.'' RACE FACTS What: 41st biennial Newport-Bermuda Yacht Race Race Day: June 19, 1.00 p.m., EDT Number of entries: 161, largest fleet in 16 years Classes: 13 Sponsors: Cruising Club of America and Royal Bermuda Yacht Club Starting line: Between Castle Hill and Beaver Tail Lighthouse in the Rhode Island Sound off Newport.

Finish line: St. David's Lighthouse, Bermuda Distance: 635 nautical miles (along the rhumb line) Record: 57 hours, 31 minutes, 50 seconds -- an average speed of 11.0 knots -- set by Boomerang in 1996.

Major trophies: St. David's Lighthouse (best corrected time overall); Rod Stephens Memorial (winner of combined Race amateur and grand prix division); CCA Bermuda Station (first in Cruiser/Racer Division); Royal Mail (non-spinnaker Cruising Division) plus 30 other prizes and medallions.

Oldest boat: Mistress , launched 1930 Largest boat: Parlay , 126 feet Smallest boat: Breakaway , 36 feet 1998 winner: Alexia , 90:56:16 Slowest race: Tenacious , 121:13:12