Participation and public relations will be among the items on the agenda for this weekend’s Newport to Bermuda Race meeting to be held at Royal Bermuda Yacht Club.In attendance will be race chairman Dr John Osmond, Cruising Club of America comodoore Sheila McCurdy, RBYC vice-comodoore Jonathan Brewin as well as a host of local race organising committee representatives.Peter Shrubb, RBYC comodoore and well-respected international sailing umpire and judge, is currently in Perth, Australia officiating at the ISAF Sailing World Championships.Discussions geared towards finding ways to build up the ‘Onion Patch’ fleet and all other aspects for the three-leg series will also take place over the course of the weekend.The Onion Patch Series commences with the New York Yacht Club Annual Regatta the weekend before the start of the Newport to Bermuda Race and concludes with the RBYC Anniversary Regatta in the Great Sound.While it is too early to determine how many entries will take part in next year’s Newport to Bermuda Race, it has already been confirmed that Rives Potts and the crew of Carina will be back to defend their St David’s Lighthouse Division crown.Potts’s 48-foot sloop will warm up for the 48th Newport to Bermuda Race by completing a circumnavigation under sail that includes the Rolex Fastnet Race in England and Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race in Australia.Meanwhile, the Notice of Race for the 2012 Newport to Bermuda Race has been posted on www.bermudarace.com and among the changes are new requirements for crew training, satellite telephones, and life jackets and safety harnesses.The 48th Newport Bermuda Race will start on June 15, 2012 off Castle Hill, Newport, Rhode Island and finish 635 miles and several days later off St. David’s Head, Bermuda.The online entry process opens on January 16 and ends on May 15 while the Bermuda Race Safety at Sea Seminar on March 17-18, to be held at the Newport Hyatt Regency Hotel, will offer classroom, in-water, first aid, and CPR training, as well as a special track for people who have attended two safety seminars in the last ten years.A total of 183 entries took part in the 2010 “Thrash to the Onion Patch”, the third largest fleet in the race’s 104-year history.