Have a taste for the sea?  Learn more about the race here.

It’s all hands on deck as Bermuda prepares for the 2008 Newport Bermuda Race.  When cannons fire around noon on June 20th, a fleet of yachts ranging from 34 to almost 100 feet in length will begin the 635-mile course from Newport, Rhode Island to the finish at St. David’s Island, Bermuda.

Organizers have estimated 220 yachts on the starting line off Castle Hill, Newport, which would make the 2008 fleet the second largest in Newport Bermuda Race history, surpassed only by the record 264 entries in the Centennial Race of 2006. Founded in 1906, the ocean race is run every two years.

It typically takes between three and six days for the yachts to travel between the two points.

After completing the race participants can take part in a week full of events across the Island culminating with a prize giving ceremony on June 28th.

The Newport Bermuda Race has been sailed from Newport biennially since 1936 and has been co-organized by the Royal Bermuda Yacht Club and the Cruising Club of America since 1926.  For more information on the race, visit www.bermudarace.com.