Colin Couper likes to describe how the townsfolk in Marion are so friendly and hospitable to the Bermuda sailors participating in the Marion to Bermuda race.

This is Couper's third time as part of the fleet making the 645-mile journey to Bermuda and on each occasion he's been here he's stayed at the magnificent home belonging to Jill and Henry Durkee, perched on the rolling crest of a hill with a breathtaking view of Sippican Harbour. The harbour feeds into Buzzard's Bay, the launch site of today's race, and on a clear day -- and there weren't many of them last week -- you can see the Beverly Yacht Club across the water. The first time Couper stayed at the Durkee's he recalled how "Henry was waiting for us at the dock and we came up the hill with a little pushcart with baggage and he said to me, `now I want to show you one thing and you're in charge of this'. Then he took me into the pantry and he opened up the door and there was a refrigerator stocked from bottom to top with beer and wine. He said `this is for you and your crew and if you run low let me know'.

Of course we never put a dent into it. "That's the sort of hospitality you see around here.'' But a sense of sadness suddenly overtook Couper as an eerie silence around the veranda reminded him of Henry Durkee's death last November.

"It's a strange feeling...we miss him a lot,'' said Couper, taking a short break from working on Vivace , a Sabre 38. "It's always like we're coming home when we arrive here.'' Couper has been in Marion since Tuesday night and the biggest part of his first full day was spent picking up provisions for the arduous journey. He's also been ironing out a prickly problem with the boat's log system. "It was working perfectly on the way up, so we're going to have to fool around with it. We'll just have to do our best, we've got a log that we can pull behind, but that would be a real nuisance.'' Couper, a well-known surgeon in Bermuda, chalks it all up to one of many challenges of competing in a sailing race. "It's a lot of work and something always goes wrong, but if you let it get to you you wouldn't do it. But the pluses outweigh the minuses by a long shot. "There is never a race either before or during that I don't say `why am I doing this'.'' Couper and crew -- navigator David Lewis and James Burnett-Herkes, Stephen and Somers Kempe, Jonathan Brewin and William Riker -- finished fourth in their class two years ago and were first in the Sabre series. "So that was pretty exciting for us,'' he said, wearing a wide grin along with blue jeans and a simple white shirt with the the boat's name emblazoned in red letters. "We could do as well or better this time, we'll try our hardest.'' Couper's biggest priorities, however, haven't changed from the first time he sailed from here and racing safely and having fun have always been part of his strategy. Of winning first overall he said: "It would be totally unrealistic to expect to be first overall unless their was some freak of nature that allowed us to have our own private wind.'' Peggy, his wife, arrived on Thursday morning from a whitewater rafting expedition in Colorado, and you can instantly tell that this is no ordinary couple. Although shying away from the type of ocean race that her husband craves, Peggy is an accomplished road runner and content to do her own thing. The couple have three daughters -- Ashley, Julia and Heather. Part of her Colorado trip included a 5,000 foot climb out of a canyon -- the Couper's appear to enjoy pushing things to the limit. "These things don't occur every week and you obviously work hard in between,'' said Couper.

"But it's nice to be able to do them.'' Couper would enjoy having his wife aboard Vivace for a future expedition, but right now he's content to settle for her constant support. Last minute details often get in the way of feeling excited about the race, so it wasn't until Thursday night's captain's meeting that "you really start to get pumped up. It's like starting any sporting event, the adrenalin is pumping and the last 24 hours you're on a different level. It's pretty difficult to describe, really.'' Couper is hoping to avoid the type of storm which greeted Vivace on the trip to Marion from Bermuda, and always in the back of his mind is his first race here when the boat's steering system broke down and dashed any hopes of capturing class honours. Then there's the challenge of the Gulf Stream and celestial navigation. "You have no electronic means of determining where you are, so there's a bit of luck involved,'' he said. "I think I have the utmost admiration for the navigators in all the boats that do this Marion race.'' The first obstacle, of course, will be getting out of Buzzard's Bay and there are some sailors who consider that aspect of the race one of the most difficult features of it. "In this particular Bay it's tricky,'' admitted Couper. "The wind is almost always on the nose so you're heading into it trying to get out of the Bay. I'm hoping the wind will be behind us. If it's like the last time, and that's very dangerous, you really have to be on your toes. There's people coming out of the fog at you all the time.'' While the start can often be exhilarating, Couper said he's also concerned about the end of the journey. "I suppose the excitement would be even higher if you did extremely well at the finish.

There's a lot of excitement at the start, but you've got almost 700 miles of sailing ahead of you, you don't always go in a straight line, usually you sort of zig-zag down. "The most exciting thing must be to do well and beat out your competitors,'' he added. "Unfortunately I haven't had that sort of exhilaration yet...one of these days perhaps.'' For now he's content to luxuriate in the hospitality of the people here and even the trip to Marion can result in a few new stories to tell friends back home. "We got into a bit of a storm on the way up here, not a severe storm but it bounces you around a little bit,'' Couper said. "We had some winds of 35 knots and just with a storm gyb up you're doing up to 10 knots and when you hit something solid like a wave...and we actually ran over a whale carcass on the way up, too. The other interesting thing that happened to us is we hooked a white marlin and it jumped three times and then it got away. "These things are all amusing little anecdotes and it keeps the troops busy and amused.'' PHOTO VIVA VIVACE -- Vivace glides to a smooth start after crossing start line in Buzzard's Bay on Friday afternoon.

MARION RACE SAILING