Nearing retirement a few years ago, Harry Weber was looking for a hobby.

Competing in 1,500-mile yacht races filled the bill.

The 67-year-old Butler man recently won the Class 1 division of the Caribbean 1,500, a yacht race from Norfolk, Va., to the British Virgin Islands.

He was captain of a four-person crew that included two friends from Chicago and one from Annapolis, Md.

"You need to have a crew because you sail 24 hours a day,"Weber said. "We work in shifts, but the captain only gets two or three hours of sleep a day.

"If there's a question about a shift in strategy or sail adjustment, you have to wake the captain and ask him. In theory, the race covers 1,500 miles, but when you're dealing with wind and sails, you're never quite sure what course you're going to have to take."

Weber and his crew completed the Caribbean 1,500 in about 8Z\x days. Class 1 is the division with the fastest yachts.

Weber also competed in the event in 1999 and 2004, finishing fourth in '04 He and his crew won the Bermuda Cup, a 640-mile race from Hampton, Va., to St. George, Bermuda, in 2006.

"When I was a kid, my parents got a sailboat and I sailed a lot," Weber said. "As I neared retirement, I began looking for stuff to do to occupy my time. Sailing was something I enjoyed and wanted to get involved with.

"From there, it was one step at a time. You get a boat, you want to put it in the ocean. Eventually, I found out about these rallies (long yacht races), discovered all the boats that get involved and I wanted to give it a try."

Weber retired five years ago from his position as a consulting engineer.

Now, he consults ocean waves, the wind, his crew and competition.

"It's so challenging and so much goes into even getting ready for the race that you can't do it every year," he said. "It's very expensive, for one thing, and it takes six months just to get the boat ready."

Weber won the Caribbean 1,500 with a 48-foot long Beneteau 477 yacht. Most of the competition had yachts of 55 to 65 feet in length and were better equipped.

"You can have a fast-enough racing boat to be rated Class 1 that's not as modern or expensive as others," he said. "It's a lot like golf. A golfer is rated by how well he shoots, not by the equipment he's using.

"I'm proud of the fact that we won this rally without the equipment advantages that others had. We got lucky, really. The winds worked out in our favor."

While it is a sailing race, Caribbean 1,500 rules permit competitors to use engines. But for each hour an engine is used, one hour is added to that yacht's finishing time.

Weber's team didn't finish the race first; it was credited with the victory because it used its engine less than boats that beat them to the finish.

"When and when not to use your engine is a strategy thing,"Weber said.

Every boat is equipped with a radio. Captains report their position at 7 a.m. each day as part of a safety check, then report use of engine time at 7 p.m. each night.

The race involves 75 to 80 boats each year. Every captain receives the information reported daily by the other boats.

The Caribbean 1,500 is held in November to avoid hurricane season, but the sailors still encounter strong winds and rough waters.

"When you're out there that many days on the North Atlantic, you're bound to hit a weather system,"Weber said. "Sheets of rain beat the boat around, the waves get choppy. ... It gets rough out there."

During the return trip from the 2004 Caribbean 1,500, an experienced sailor got washed off a boat and drowned during a storm.

"There's a danger factor to this, no doubt,"Weber admitted.