residential community approximately 60 miles to the south of Boston last Tuesday, gearing up for the start of the 10th Marion to Bermuda yacht race.

Captains, navigators and crew members from the five Bermuda entries taking part in the 645 mile ocean passage arrived later with registration beginning at the Beverly Yacht Club, one of three sponsors of the event. Pembroke's Paul Hubbard, skipper of Tonka , arrived in early June with his Sigma 36, but returned to Bermuda tending to unfinished business back home. The veteran sailor, competing in his fifth Marion event, was back in time for registration and the captain's meeting on Thursday at the nearby Tabor Academy. Other boats from Bermuda are Crewcut , a Sigma 41, skippered by David Marc Finnigan; Scheherazade , a Baltic 37, captained by Leslie Swainson; Starr Trail , a Freedom 45, with Robert Mulderig at the helm and Colin Couper's Vivace , a Sabre 38. In total there were only 77 vessels taking part, the lowest number of boats at the Centreboard Shoals starting line in the history of the race which began in 1977. While the numbers may be in sharp decline, the town of Marion celebrated with familiar zeal, making sure everyone from Bermuda felt right at home. Front Street shops, like Booksellers, Spirits and the Marion General Store, were decorated with Bermuda flags and the excitement began to mount as sailors introduced themselves to race organisers at the yacht club.

Committee member Sherb Carter arranged the moors as neatly as duck decoys on a mantlepiece. Five other boats in the race had crew members from Bermuda, most notably Francis Carter, who was aboard Columbine , a Hylas 51, sailed by owner Dick Leather of Denver, Colorado. Carter was skipper of Longobarda , the first local yacht to cross the finish line during last year's Newport to Bermuda race. John Wadson of Hamilton was aboard Arion , an Alden 54 skippered by Robert Evans of Greenwich, Connecticut, while Steven Fishmann of Smith's was part of Charles Langston's team on the Swan 48 Clarion of Skye . Other Bermuda crew members aboard US boats were Gordon Henry, who aided skipper Jeffrey DeLong on Baccus , a Bristol 40, and Alex and Sheelagh Cooper of Warwick, sailed on Queen of Hearts , a Hinckley 43. In all there were over 500 people racing across the Gulf Stream and the open Atlantic to Bermuda, race administrative officer Faith Paulsen confirmed. Paulsen is also the commodore of the Beverly Yacht Club, one of three co-sponsors of the race. The two other sponsors are the Royal Hamilton Amateur Dinghy Club and the Blue Water Sailing Club. "Things are going to be very hectic, very busy around here in the next few days,'' Paulsen said during an interview in the club's living room, where silver trophies glistened on sturdy shelves along walls of scrubbed pine.

"Everyone is going to have to come in to make sure their paperwork is done and that their inspections are done,'' she added, while an uncharitable fog blanketed the area. Paulsen is in charge of a "small army of volunteers'' here, including 52 inspectors from Maine to Florida who conducted last-minute checks on all boats through Thursday. Paulsen, meanwhile, is trying her best not to confuse her past roles with her latest one since she has been working on the race since 1979. "Two years ago I was vice commodore and four years ago I was rear commodore,'' she said with a bright smile. "I'm the person who has to say welcome to everybody, but I'm wearing so many hats it's hard for me to figure out where one stops and the other one starts.'' The commodore is encouraged that most of the people due here this week are returning from 1993 and said results of a recent questionnaire showed that what competitors like most about the race is "the camaraderie and celestial navigation. They like having a race that is that is really competitive for cruising yachts and that's what this race was founded on. "They enjoy being able to take their families and friends to a race that's full of competition and challenge, but you don't have to worry about spinnakers and boats that have to have everybody on the rail for the entire race.'' PHOTO WELCOME ABOARD -- Race committee members, from left to right, Sherb Carter, June Farnham, Faith Paulsen and Nat Davis greeted sailors at the Beverly Yacht Club.

MARION RACE SAILING