The history of the Newport-Bermuda Race dates back to the turn of the century, when interest in offshore racing began to grow.

Yachtsmen wanted to sail reasonably-sized boats with a mostly amateur crew of friends, as opposed to sailing larger vessels, manned by professionals, as was the custom in the latter part of the 19th century.

The editor of Rudder magazine, Thomas Fleming, fostered this interest by organising coastal races in 1904 and 1905 from New York to Marblehead and from Marblehead to Halifax. These were followed by a race from Brooklyn to Hampton Roads and a trans-Atlantic race.

The resulting enthusiam for offshore racing plus the energetic efforts of Day and interest in sailing somewhat smaller boats, led to the organisation of the first Bermuda race in 1906.

Day enlisted the Brooklyn Yacht Club to manage the race in conjunction with the Royal Bermuda Yacht Club and Sir Thomas Lipton endorsed the event by providing a 100 cup as the trophy.

The first race did not provide an example of what was to come.

Only three yachts entered: Lila was dismasted at the start and was assisted back to port by Tamerlane , whose own start was delayed 65 hours.

The germ of the idea was planted, however, and several points had been made: 1) The Gulf Stream could be mastered; 2) Sailing medium-sized boats several hundred miles into the ocean was not necessarily courting disaster; and 3) the incidence of hurricanes in early summer did not offer a serious threat.

Although 12 yachts appeared on the starting line in 1907, the race then gradually drifted downward in numbers and temporarily ended in 1910 with only two entrants.

The race was not sailed again until 1923, shortly after the formation of the Cruising Club of America by William Washburn Nutting.

Nutting, a subchaser captain during World War One, sailed from Bars d'Or Lakes for England in July, 1921, in Typhoon a somewhat crude 45-foot ketch lauched less than a month earlier. Nutting and his small crew arrived in Crowes at the end of August and the subsequent cordial welcome by British yachtsmen at the Royal Cruising Club inspired Nutting with the idea of an American equivalent.

On the return voyage via the Azores, heavy weather plagued Typhoon and her crew. Reaching the Gulf Stream, heavy waves rolled the ketch 120 degrees, sweeping a crew member overboard and destroying the sails. Finally limping into New York, he proposed for the first time the formation of the CCA and was elected its first commodore soon after.

In early 1923, a Committee on Plan and Scope, formed by second Commodore Herbert Stone, outlined various objectives for the club.

Among the charter members, there was considerable question as the to club's proper role in ocean racing. And when Stone, as editor of Yachting Magazine, announced the revival of the race to Bermuda, controversy raged within the club.

But history records that when the starting cannon was fired in 1923, the race committee were all CCA members and practically the whole membership took off en masse for Bermuda. The winner was Bob Bavier's Memory , the first ocean racer to go offshore with a modern Marconi rig, but more important, with 22 yachts, the race became a permanent fixure on the yachting scene.

The 1923 race began off New London, where it ran for the most part until 1936, when it was moved to Newport. With only 14 entries in 1924, the race was changed to a biennial event, which it remains today.

In 1926, the CCA, in co-operation with the RBYC, agreed to take over the permanent management of the race. In 1930, semmingly unaffected by the preceding year's stock market crash, the race attracted 42 boats, far exceeding any previous year -- or for some time to come.

Due to the war in Europe, racing to Bermuda was suspended from 1940 through 1944 but resumed in 1946. Four years later, a then record 52 boats crossed the start line.

Science and technology began to be felt in the post-war 1950s, leading to the development of the CCA measurement rule, for the equitable handicapping of yachts.

Serious, competitive ocean racing had arrived.

One of the first to recognise many of these changes was Carleton Mitchell. In combination with Rod and Olin Stephens, by now the gurus of modern yacht design, the remarkable Finistere managed three first place overall wins in a row (1956-1960).

As the IOR Measurement Rule succeeded the CCA Rule, its faults became more apparent with time. The CCA and many of its members pioneered and funded the development of the MHS (Measured Handicap System) which evolved into the IMS (International Measurement System) now in use.

Another change took place in 1960, when the race attracted a record fleet of 125, despite increasingly rigid safety requirements and inspections. The size of the fleet severely taxed Bermuda's facilities and the CCA decided that henceforth the race would be by invitation only.

That year, Finisterre won the overall prize for the third consecutive time and tales are still being told of Djinn 's knockdown, Cotton Blossom 's lost rudder and Scylla 's man overboard.

The race has only once been postponed, when the threat of Hurricane Brenda delayed the 1968 race by 24 hours. Still, 152 boats started, with many foreign competitors.

A delay of a different kind plagued the 1976 race. The event made history in that a huge high pressure system becalmed the smaller boats for days. For the first time, the RBYC Race Committee had to abandon the finish line and radio those boats still at sea to turn their engines on and motor in.