AmericaOne Report

AmericaOne Team Solidifies Standing in Day Two of Frenchman's Reef Regatta

ST. THOMAS, BVI, December 11, 1998-- AmericaOne Skipper and CEO Paul Cayard is competing in the Frenchman's Reef Match Race along with John Kostecki and other AmericaOne team members. The regatta, in its second year as a grand prix Grade I match racing event is being held from Dec. 9 through Dec. 13 at Frenchman's Reef in St. Thomas, British Virgin Islands:

Paul's report from Day 2, Saturday, December 11 follows:

The second day of racing here in St. Thomas was used to finish off round robin racing, designed to select the top two competitors from each group to move onto the semi finals.

Team AmericaOne won two of those three races including winning over Chris Law, the world number two and the only previously unbeaten skipper in either group. We ended the rounds tied with Peter Holmberg (US Virgin Islands) at 3 wins 3 losses and lost the tie breaker. So Law and Holmberg moved on from our group and Gilmore(Nippon) and Pace(France) moved on from the other group.

The last part of the day was spent racing the bottom half of the series. AmericaOne beat James Spithill of Australia 2:0 while Luc Pillot of France beat Gavin Brady(America True) 2:1.

So after losing crewmember Terry Hutchinson, AmericaOne managed a 4:1 record for the day which I felt good about. The regatta is serving its purpose for AmericaOne in that we are getting back into the match racing game and getting time in the boat as a team. I knew we would have to "eat some humble pie" in getting back into this game which the top players focus on exclusively year round but it is a necessary step on the road to being completely prepared for the America's Cup next year.

Saturday the semi finals will be raced in the morning and the afternoon will be used for a youth regatta featuring the match racing skippers as tacticians for local youth teams.

Sunday morning AmericaOne will race Luc Pillot for 5th place and AmericaTrue will race James Spithill for 7th and 8th places. In the afternoon the finals and Petit finals will be played out.

About the Syndicate

AmericaOne is dedicated to recapturing the America’s Cup by applying U.S. technology in computer equipment, aerodynamics, hydrodynamics, sail design, naval architecture and structural engineering to America's Cup sailboat design. Technology partners include Hewlett-Packard, Bellcore/SAIC, and Ford Motor Company and Visteon. Operating since June 1, 1996, the AmericaOne team is comprised of 36 professionals, including 20 members of the design team, actively working on the research and design of its sailboats. AmericaOne is the challenger on behalf of San Francisco’s St. Francis Yacht Club. To learn more about AmericaOne , visit the web site at www.ac2000.org

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For additional information on AmericaOne, contact: Gina Von Esmarch E-mail: gvonesmarch@americaone.org Phone: 415-474-3425 Fax: 415-474-3571

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