AUCKLAND, New Zealand, October 22, 1999 – AmericaOne , the San Francisco-based St. Francis Yacht Club’s America’s Cup 2000 challenger, raced against Prada Challenge (ITA 45), in Race 7 of the Louis Vuitton Cup and gave spectators an exciting show. It was everything that an America’s Cup race should be: A suspenseful and very close contest between the leaders of the Challengers. In a race plagued with spinnaker problems for both syndicates, the Italians emerged the eventual winner by 17 seconds.

After a close start, AmericaOne took on Prada’s Luna Rossa all the way to the first windward mark, to round just 19 seconds behind the Italians. A failure of the spinnaker sheet’s shackle forced the Italians to drop their sail and slowly replace it. It was all the time that AmericaOne needed to take over control of the course. Minutes later Prada fumbled and lost the spinnaker guy, again caused by shackle failure. They dropped their sail with less than 30 meters to the mark. AmericaOne rounded and extended the lead by three boatlengths and then continued to increase the lead to the second windward mark rounding.

With winds gusting to 20 knots, the final downwind leg found both teams engaged in a quick-jibe duel and AmericaOne controlling the pace. With just seconds to go to the finish AmericaOne ‘s spinnaker exploded. “We think it nicked the jumper on the jibe,” said skipper Paul Cayard. After quickly cutting away the sail, the AmericaOne Team promptly set a new spinnaker but was unable to re-gain the lead.

“We were pretty happy to be in such a tight boat race with Prada. We know that they’ve put in a lot of time training during the last three years,” said Cayard. “All in all I’m pleased to have been so competitive and we congratulate them. They deserved to win and I’m content with the accounting for the time being.”

Race 7 Starting Line-Up: Curtis Blewett of Los Angeles, CA, bow; Ralf Steitz of Port Washington, NY, mid bow; Bill Bates of San Diego, CA, mast/sewer; Josh Belsky of Rye, NY, pit; Phil Trinter of Lorain, OH, grinder; Jim Nicholas of San Diego, CA, grinder; Matt Welling of Bay Shore, NY, grinder; David McClintock of Portsmouth, RI, upwind trim; Russ Silvestri of San Francisco, CA downwind trim; Gavin Brady of Annapolis, MD, runner; Paul Cayard of Kentfield, CA, helmsman; John Kostecki of Fairfax, CA, tactician; Bruce Nelson of San Diego, CA, traveler; Terry Hutchinson of Annapolis, MD, mainsheet; Sean Clarkson of Middletown, RI, main assist, and Lexi Gahagan of Wilmington, DE, navigator. The 17th crew person for Race 7 was Terrel Silvers of Iowa Park, Texas, AmericaOne Design Challenge Winner.

Final Scores To Date:

AmericaOne /5 points

Prada /7 points

Young America /6 points

Abracadabra 2000 /3 points

America True /3 point

Nippon Challenge /3 points

Spanish Challenge /3 points

Stars & Stripes /3 points

Le Defi Francais /1 point

Young Australia /1 point

FAST2000 /0 points

Round Robin 1

During Round Robin 1 each of the 11 Challengers from seven nations will race each other one time – the winner receiving one point per race. AmericaOne s schedule for the remainder of Round Robin 1 is as follows:

AUCKLAND, New Zealand, October 20, 1999 – AmericaOne, the San Francisco-based St. Francis Yacht Club’s America’s Cup 2000 challenger, used their bye in the fifth flight to prepare for the afternoon match against Le Delfi’s Sixieme Sens (FRA 46). Having lost the start by seconds, AmericaOne quickly overtook the lead position by pointing higher and gaining on the first windward leg of Race 6 and defeated the French by 1m 26s.

“Today we saw the strongest wind conditions we’ve seen thus far in the racing,” commented AmericaOne Skipper Paul Cayard. “The start of the race with the French was interesting, he (Bertrand Pace) was very aggressive and really pushed the line hard. He had a slightly better start than we did but we were able to live on his hip and climb out to windward to have a four boat length lead at the first cross.”

AmericaOne, Prada and Young America all remain unbeaten.

Day Two Starting Line-Up: Curtis Blewett of Los Angeles, CA, bow; Greg Prussia of Oroville, CA mid bow; Bill Bates of San Diego, CA, mast/sewer; Josh Belsky of Rye, NY, pit; Phil Trinter of Lorain, OH, grinder; Jim Nicholas of San Diego, CA, grinder; Matt Welling of Bay Shore, NY, grinder; David McClintock of Portsmouth, RI, upwind trim; Russ Silvestri of San Francisco, CA downwind trim; Gavin Brady of Annapolis, MD, runner; Paul Cayard of Kentfield, CA, helmsman; John Kostecki of Fairfax, CA, tactician; Justin Clougher of Newport, RI, traveler; Terry Hutchinson of Annapolis, MD, mainsheet; Sean Clarkson of Middletown, RI, main assist and Lexi Gahagan of Wilmington, DE, navigator.

Final Scores To Date:

AmericaOne /5 points

Prada /6 points

Young America /5 points

Abracadabra 2000 /3 points

Stars & Stripes /3 points

Nippon Challenge /2 points

Spanish Challenge /2 points

America True /2 points

Le Defi Francais /1 point

Young Australia /1 point

FAST2000 /0 points

Round Robin 1 During Round Robin 1 each of the 11 Challengers from seven nations will race each other one time – the winner receiving one point per race. AmericaOne’s schedule for the remainder of Round Robin 1 is as follows:

FAST2000 Has A Not So hAPpy Day — Nippon Warriors Combat 49ers Furiously

AUCKLAND, New Zealand, October 19, 1999 – AmericaOne, the San Francisco-based St. Francis Yacht Club’s America’s Cup 2000 challenger, won both races, defeating FAST2000 and Nippon Challenge, on day two of the Louis Vuitton Cup for the 2000 America’s Cup season. In Race 1, AmericaOne defeated FAST2OOO’s be hAPpy (SUI 59) by 14m 9s. In the second race, AmericaOne beat Asura (JPN 44) by 2m 26s. Despite the light North Easterly wind conditions that prevailed earlier during the day for Race 3, the wind and the competition heated up when AmericaOne battled Nippon during Race 4 of the challenger series. The latter of the two matches proved to be exciting at the onset until AmericaOne managed to build a lead of about 20 boat lengths in the last leg.

“We had a good day of racing today which turned fairly aggressive in Race 4 against Nippon,” commented AmericaOne Skipper Paul Cayard. “We were unfortunate in that we brokedown prior to the onset of the race. Luckily, we were able to qualify for a postponement in the rules and took the 45 minutes we were allotted, fixed the part and then went on to win the race.”

After four races, AmericaOne, Prada and Young America all hold a 4 -0 record and have yet to race one another.

Team Faces Off With Bravo Espana and America True

AUCKLAND, New Zealand, October 18, 1999 – AmericaOne, the San Francisco-based St. Francis Yacht Club’s America’s Cup 2000 challenger, got off to a good start with two wins in the first day of racing for the 2000 America’s Cup season. In Race 1, AmericaOne defeated the Spanish Challenge’s Bravo Espana (ESP 47) by 1 minute and 9 seconds. In the second race, AmericaOne beat America True (USA 51) by 3 minutes and 45 seconds.

“In the first race AmericaOne remained close to the Spanish Team. On each lap we were able to increase our lead,” remarks AmericaOne Tactician John Kostecki. “The weather conditions in the second race were really tricky, so when John Cutler (America True) crossed the starting line early, we were given a nice advantage. The first lap was close but things really opened up for us in the third leg and we were able to stretch the lead on the last run to the finish line.”

Day One Starting Line-Up: Curtis Blewett of Los Angeles, CA, bow; Ralph Steitz of Port Washington, NY, mid bow; Bill Bates of San Diego, CA, mast/sewer; Josh Belsky of Rye, NY, pit; Phil Trinter of Lorraine, OH, grinder; Jim Nicholas of San Diego, CA, grinder; Matt Welling of Bay Shore, NY, grinder; David McClintock of Portsmouth, RI, upwind trim; Morgan Trubovich of Newport, RI, downwind trim; Gavin Brady of Annapolis, MD, runner; Paul Cayard of Kentfield, CA, helmsman; John Kostecki of Fairfax, CA, tactician; Bruce Nelson of San Diego, CA, traveler; Terry Hutchinson of Annapolis, MD, mainsheet; Sean Clarkson of Middletown, RI, main assist and Lexi Gahagan of Wilmington, DE, navigator. The 17th crew person for Race 1 was St. Francis Yacht Club member and AmericaOne supporter Larry Finch. In Race 2, St. Francis Yacht Club Commodore Monroe J. Wingate rode in this position.

Final Scores: Abracadabra 2000 (1 point), America True (O points), AmericaOne (2 points), FAST2000 (0 points), Le Defi Francais (1 point), Nippon Challenge (1 point), Prada (2 points), Spanish Challenge (0 points), Stars & Stripes (1 point), Young America (2 points) and Young Australia (0 points).

Round Robin 1

During Round Robin 1 each of the 11 Challengers from seven nations will race each other one time – the winner receiving one point per race. In the first round, the race committee is scheduled to run two races for five pairs on two courses during the racing days leaving one team taking a bye in each flight of races. Racing is scheduled to begin daily at 10:40 AM local time on a 12.5-nautical mile windward-leeward format, four-leg course. AmericaOne’s schedule for the remainder of Round Robin 1 is as follows:

By the time you read this, we America

It is hard to believe that five years have finally gone by and we are having another America

One year ago, I was climbing off EF Language in Southampton after the best sailing experience of my life. Now I am in the middle of a political campaign.

I have just crossed the famous 40 yard line. It is not easy mentally. Physically, I had to go into the shop. My shoulder gave up as I got to the 70,000 miles before the 7 years.

The America

AmericaOne has spent the last two months training in Auckland, New Zealand in preparation for the upcoming America

AmericaOne has spent the last two months training in Auckland, New Zealand in preparation for the upcoming America

I am sure a lot will be written in all sailing periodicals this month about the last Sydney to Hobart Race. It was very sad to hear of people losing their lives. It seems so senseless for a sport. The recounting of the conditions that I have heard from crew on Sayonara is incredible. For someone who just went around the world on a sailboat, obviously very exposed at times, I can tell you that it is very humbling to observe what happened in Australia. My heart goes out to the families of the sailors who were lost. I knew Glen Charles from Star sailing and so I am particularly sad about his loss.

However, I can