Veteran Bermudian sailor Warren Brown believes the Island now has a third-rate ocean racing fleet which cannot compete against better-financed operations abroad.

Brown, who left for the US yesterday to prepare for next week's Newport-Bermuda race, said changes fuelled by massive investment had changed the sport hugely in recent years and left Bermuda skippers behind.

"Ocean cruising is quite a different sport now from what it was 25 years ago,'' said 70-year-old Brown. "With the top boats, it's become very much a professional sport.

"Bermuda's ocean-racing fleet is not even second-rate now, it's third-rate.'' The changes, he said, comprised much more than the onset of satellite navigation technology.

"Top boats now are employing a lot of professional people,'' said Brown.

"You see them fly in pros to sail the boat, they hire divers to clean the bottom of the boat.

"A lot of people in the US now have very large incomes and when they sail, they have the best of everything and the best gear.

"It's a very professional sport now and Bermudians simply don't have the income to compete.

"I think in Bermuda, we are getting more people sailing in smaller boats, but the ocean racing fleet is certainly not to the fore.'' Brown will start his 19th ocean race from the States to Bermuda next Friday, when he skippers his 61-foot sloop War Baby in the Newport race.

His crew of 13 includes fellow Bermudians Kevin Horsfield, John Wadson, Jack Ward and Brown's daughter Melissa Brown-Moore.

Brown will sail with a spinnaker in the racing class, rather than in the non-spinnaker cruising class. The fleet, the biggest in the race's 94-year history, will be split into divisions.

A successful Newport race, for Brown, would be to "finish in the top five or six boats in the division''.

"You've got to remember that War Baby is 28 years-old and designs have changed considerably over the years,'' added Brown.

"She weighs about 37 tonnes and there are bigger modern catamarans around now which weigh less than that.

"She could go in the cruising class with a lot of the old boats and not sail a spinnaker, but you can't go for the Lighthouse Trophy that way and anyway, it's a lot more fun for the crew to be able to fly spinnakers.'' Heavy weather would better his chances of making an impression in the race, added Brown, otherwise he would have little chance of competing against lighter boats.

Brown said the Newport race was a much more competitive affair than the Marion-Bermuda race. "The Marion has a nice relaxed, family atmosphere, but for the Newport there are a lot of top boats and crews and it's much more intensive,'' he said.

But having made the 630-mile crossing to Bermuda so many times before, was it beginning to feel routine? "I've been ocean racing for about 50 years and I must admit, I don't get quite as excited as I used to,'' said Brown. "But I still love to get out there on the ocean whether it's racing or cruising.'' War Baby: Warren Brown's 61-foot sloop will again be on the start line in Newport.