The Marion to Bermuda Cruising Yacht Race is a biennial yacht race held in odd-numbered years, from Marion, Massachusetts to the island of Bermuda, a distance of 645 nautical miles (1,195 km).
[2][needs update] In 1975 local yacht sailor W. David Kingery from Marion was interested in doing a single-handed race from England to Newport, Rhode Island and sailed alone to Bermuda as a qualifying voyage.
[3] This gave Kingery the concept of a race dedicated to cruising sailors and families on this route and he was able to obtain co-operation and sponsorship from the Royal Hamilton Amateur Dinghy Club in Bermuda, the Beverly Yacht Club in Marion and the Blue Water Sailing Club.
[5] The race defines itself as a "Corinthian" event, that is, one where the owners of the boats are part of the sailing crew and the crew is not paid to take part in the event.
[5] At first, participants were only allowed to use celestial navigation to find their way to Bermuda.