that a large collection of sailing photos adorn the walls in the reception area, while a large poster of Winston Churchill glares at you from just outside.

Still, there will be plenty of room for extra snapshots in a couple of weeks as Les Crane embarks on his third Newport to Bermuda race, set to begin in eight days in the Rhode Island town.

There's a good chance additional room will be required for photos, however, since this race will be even more special for Crane because he will be accompanied for the first time by Court Crane, his 16-year-old son.

"Oh yeah, I'm very excited to have him along,'' said Crane. "He's sailed before, but this is going to be a big experience for him. Sixteen is very young for this race. I don't recall other crew members on other boats that age. But he's keen to do it. He's a good sailor.'' But most of all Crane is hoping to duplicate his sterling performance from 1992 when he won the Class F Division aboard Monterey , a 47-foot Stevens, on a corrected time of two days, 11 hours, 15 minutes and seven seconds. He also finished second overall in the Cruising Canvas division.

Next week's 635-mile trek from Newport to Bermuda will mark his fourth major Bermuda race (he participated in the 1989 Marion to Bermuda event). He's entered in the Cruising Class, where he'll be joined by two other Bermuda entries, Colin Couper's Vivaci and Nicholas Dill's Dillightful .

The last Newport race also stood out for him because it marked his official move from New York to Bermuda.

The 44-year-old yachtsman grew up in Toronto where his love of the sport was nurtured at the Royal Canadian Yacht Club.

"The last (Newport) race was my immigration to Bermuda,' said Crane, smiling, while patting his blue and white striped shirt.

The fact that he won his division does not put any additional pressure on Crane for next week's race, which begins on Friday. He will also take part in the two Onion Patch Series regattas at the New York Yacht Club this weekend, using them primarily as a tune-up for Newport-Bermuda.

Joining Crane and his son will be nine additional crew members including three from Bermuda -- James Watlington, Peter Belton and Duncan Hedley Coates. Also aboard will be two sailors from Baltimore and four from Greenwich, Connecticut.

"We left on Friday a week ago and made very good time getting there (Newport),'' said Crane. "We were up there in 90 hours, which was good time, arriving on Tuesday morning.

"Obviously we had to get the boat up there, but I was also anxious to sail it up myself, just to shake things out. Things always break and if you're there while they're breaking you know what has to be done better than anybody else.'' Crane is hoping some other breaks come his way.

"We had some good fortune (in 1992),'' he said. "There was a weather system that we were able to keep ahead of and the boat immediately behind us got behind it and once you were behind the system the wind was very light. And if you were ahead of the system, like we were, the wind was very strong. Our finish was just a function of this weather system.'' If Crane expects to finish first again he'll need more than just help from the weather. He has been closely monitoring the Gulf Stream, especially since his recent jaunt to Newport.

"The Gulf Stream was rather straightforward, from an east to west fashion,'' said Crane. "There weren't any large knuckles in it, sometimes you get waves.

The ideal situation is to have a wave that you can jump on and ride down, southward on it. There's no wave like that at the moment.

"Trying to anticipate what the Gulf Stream is going to do is a real game.'' The name of the game for Crane is also to have a good time.

"We focus on enjoying ourselves and keeping a good humour about the whole thing,'' he said. "We're out there to enjoy ourselves and we're not out there to get on someone's case because something happened that shouldn't have happened. You try to keep a good sense of humour on the boat.

"This isn't a professional team. It's a bunch of guys in their forties wanting to have a good, fun and safe adventure.''