Three to five days of tough sailing ahead of them, 68 boats, including two ?celebrity? crew members, will set off today from Marion bound for Bermuda.

The fleet, which includes Bermuda Governor Sir John Vereker and TV personality Geraldo Rivera, are not expected to set any records this weekend, with the 15th edition of the 645-mile ocean crossing expected to be a slow one.

Early weather reports suggest light air will be a big feature of the event although there are also forecasts doing the dock grapevine indicating some rough weather on the approach to the Gulf Stream, with the wind expected to go against the tide to create some ominous swells.

This combination should put an end to record attempts although nothing seems to be bothering the skippers, some of whom have already endured thunderstorms and torrential rain in Marion this week.

?If there is one thing I have learned, it?s that you can never pay too much attention to these five-day forecasts,? said Robert Mulderig, skipper of the first boat across the line in the 2003 event and a late entrant this year.

?If you look at the forecasts, it looks like there is nothing but high pressure areas between here and Bermuda.

?If these are right, there is going to be a lot of light air around but I am not going to worry about it because so much can change.

?A lot of how things go is based on the Gulf Stream anyway but you can never put too much into these long forecasts. Anything can happen in ocean sailing, we all know that.?

Mulderig was keeping up in Newport for as long as possible to sort out last minute ?issues? and was not expected to come up to Marion until late last night or possibly early today in advance of the lunchtime start at Buzzards Bay.

Fellow Bermudian Colin Couper?s was forced to endure an electrical storm earlier this week when coming up from Newport, although it wasn?t enough to put off crew member Sir John Vereker who remained upbeat ahead of his second ocean crossing despite his soaking.

Vereker, who joked about his experience during pre-race speeches, completed the Newport-Bermuda Race last year, also with Couper aboard the Swan 46, his first long voyage after only limited experience gained in the English Channel.

The crew of ten aboard feature some very experienced sailors, particularly skipper Couper who has been completing ocean crossings for nearly 50 years, and are expected to do well in their class.

The third Bermuda vessel to be involved in the race is Paul Hubbard?s .

This year?s race features a number of new innovations, including a new tracking system to allow spectators to view the position of boats, multi-hull vessels as well as a trophy for the first all-female crew to cross the finish line in St. David?s next week.

The new tracking system has got organisers particularly excited, as they get an opportunity to widen the appeal of ocean racing, normally only able to be viewed at the start and ? still with difficulty ? the finish.

?We are very pleased with the system,? said race executive director Graham Quinn. ?We are keen to ensure that we keep to the original values of the Marion-Bermuda Race but we also have to move with the times and this is certainly a big step.?

The system is updated every two hours and will allow friends and family of the crews as well as the media and those interested in sailing to see where everyone is, whose winning which class and how far they have got until the finish.

?We are the first race in North America to employ this technology and I think it enhances an already strong product.?

Quinn was also keen on the innovation of introducing multi-hull vessels, seven of which will set off tomorrow but are expected to arrive around the same time as the monohulls.

The other thing keeping Quinn smiling is the presence of the high profile Rivera in the biennial race ? the second time the media star has taken part.

?He is a member here at the Beverly Yacht Club and he entered the race around two months ago,? said Quinn. ?This is a race for everyone but it doesn?t do us any harm to have someone with that higher profile taking part.?

Rivera, who has sailed around the world, is not the first celebrity to have raced from Marion ? he joins a list that includes Walter Cronkite and actor William Hurt.

The first boats in the race are expected into Bermuda on Monday afternoon at the earliest.

The position of all the boats competing can be tracked using the iboattrack technology on www.marionbermuda.com. The positions are updated every two hours throughout the entire race.