PRESS RELEASE NOVEMBER 4, 2002
STARS & STRIPES WILL RACE BRITISH CHALLENGER IN QUARTER FINAL RACING FOR THE LOUIS VUITTON CUP
AUCKLAND, NZ, NOVEMBER 4, 2002–Team Dennis Conner, representing the New York Yacht Club and sailing Stars & Stripes will meet Britain’s GBR Challenge in Quarter Final racing for the Louis Vuitton Cup in just over one week’s
time. The two boats are seeded seventh and sixth respectively in the four month-long competition to decide a challenger
for the America’s Cup.
Neither team is expected to announce until next Monday which boat it will use in the best-of-seven series that starts on
Tuesday, November 12. Team Dennis Conner has the choice of Stars & Stripes USA-66 or Stars & Stripes USA-77. The British can use their Wight Lightning GBR-70 or Wight Magic GBR-78.
The automatic choice of the New York and British boats as opponents stemmed from the decision by Sweden’s fifth seeded
Victory Challenge to sail against France’s eighth-seeded Le Défi Areva team.
As the winner of the two Round Robin series sailed last month, the Swiss Alinghi Challenge said it would race the
defending champions, the fourth-seeded Prada Challenge. As winner, Alinghi had earned the right to pick its opposition
from the top four teams.
The Swiss decision means that second-ranked Oracle BMW Racing will line-up against third-seeded OneWorld Challenge when
racing resumes.
The top four teams make up the “Double-Chance Group” for the Quarter-Finals. The winners of these matches advance
directly to the Semi-Finals. The losers get a second chance to stay in the competition in the Quarter-Final Repechage.
In the lower tier of four competitors known as the “Single-Chance Group”, the losing teams will be eliminated from
further competition, while the winners face the losers from the top group in the Repechage.
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 on October 1, 2002 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, 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 and Viagra (www.viagra.com). Discovered and developed by Pfizer, Viagra is the breakthrough
oral treatment for erectile dysfunction that has been found to be effective and well tolerated in over 100 completed and
ongoing clinical studies. Viagra has been approved by regulatory authorities in 119 countries around the world and is
among the most widely prescribed medications, with over 120 million prescriptions written for more than 20 million men.
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