Stars & Stripes Leads Areva, Racing Is Abandoned

PRESS RELEASE October 8, 2002

STARS & STRIPES LEADS AREVA BUT RACING IS ABANDONED IN DYING BREEZES

AUCKLAND, NZ, OCTOBER 8, 2002-Team Dennis Conner’s Stars & Stripes was leading her French opponent Areva by 1,000 yards today when light and dying winds forced abandonment of their Louis Vuitton Cup match.

Ken Read, from Newport, RI, skippering the New York Yacht Club’s challenger for the America’s Cup, pulled out to an early lead in his first meeting with French skipper Luc Pillot aboard Areva and surrendered it only briefly when a windshift favored the French boat.

Stars & Stripes played the light and puffy southerly windshifts to its advantage on the first beat and rounded the weather mark 38 seconds ahead, before making big gains on the first spinnaker run.

As the breeze shifted and died, Stars & Stripes continued to pull away from Areva. However, when Stars & Stripes was within a minute and a few yards of the mark, the 45-minute time limit for the leg expired and the Race Committee abandoned the race. The race will be resailed at a later date.

“It’s a tough day when you’re ahead of your competitor by ten minutes and you miss the time limit by ten seconds,” quipped Read. “The good news is that the boat showed some good pace today and our brains trust did a really nice job of getting us a good lead . . . so we look forward to going out and doing it again tomorrow.”

Team Dennis Conner, representing the New York Yacht Club, has a 2-3 record in the First Round Robin of the Louis Vuitton Cup.

The crew of Stars & Stripes today was: Vince Brun, Peter Isler, and Bill Trenkle, from San Diego, CA; Chuck Brown, Jerry Kirby, Rob Myles, Ken Read and Tony Rey, from Newport, RI; Chris Kam, Stonington, CT; Rock Ferrigno, Fairfield, CT; Tom Whidden, Essex, CT; Terry Hutchinson and Andrew Scott, Annapolis, MD, Mike Toppa, Fort Lauderdale, FL; Caleb Borchers, Portland, OR; and Dave Calverley, Tampa, FL. The 17th man was Stars & Stripes supporter Llwyd Ecclestone.

Team Dennis Conner and the New York Yacht Club have partnered to put forth the finest team of American designers, sailors, boat builders and shore side support to win America’s Cup XXXI and return the America’s Cup to the United States. The America’s Cup season began today with a four-month challenger elimination series known as the Louis Vuitton Cup. The winner of the Louis Vuitton Cup will challenge Team New Zealand for the right to defend the America ’s Cup in a best of nine series starting on February 15, 2003.

Team Dennis Conner's platinum sponsor, Computer Associates International, Inc. (NYSE: CA) delivers the software that manages eBusiness. As the world’s third largest enterprise software company, CA provides industry-leading integrated solutions through strategic partnerships and powerful brands such as Unicenter®, BrightStor™, eTrust™, CleverPath™, Advantage™, Jasmine® and AllFusion™. With mission-critical software in security and storage, CA provides reliable, quality technology. For more information, visit www.ca.com.

Gold sponsors of the Team Dennis Conner America's Cup challenge include Citizen Watch Company (www.citizenwatch.com), proud maker of the new Eco-Drive Sailhawk, the official Stars & Stripes team watch, the ACE Group of Companies (www.acelimited.com), a premier global insurance and reinsurance organization and Airgas, Inc. (www.airgas.com), the largest U.S. distributor of industrial, medical and specialty gases, welding, safety and related products. With an integrated network of nearly 800 locations nationwide--including branches, retail stores, gas fill plants, specialty gas labs, production facilities and distribution centers--Airgas' national scale and strong local presence offer customers a competitive advantage

Team Dennis Conner’s Silver sponsors are Nautica (www.nautica.com), the team’s official apparel sponsor and a leading global fashion and lifestyle company with products ranging from men's, women's and children's sportswear, denim and accessories to a complete home collection and Manugistics (www.manugistics.com), a leading software company that provides comprehensive solutions which enable companies to share inventory, pricing and planning information with customers and suppliers over the Internet.

Team Dennis Conner’s Suppliers are 3M, Air New Zealand, Airgas, Airtech, APL Limited, Arc Second, Bathysphere Digital Media Services, Columbus Line, Digi International, Dupont, Earth Tech, Itronix, Lewmar Marine, McLube, Media Bin, Munters, Nautica Eyewear, New England Ropes, Newport Adhesives & Composites, OmniSonics Medical, Pacer Technologies, Parker, Plastimo, Protector, Remy Amerique, Saucony, WiTango and Xygent.

ENDS

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