Luna Rossa Will Meet Alinghi In Best Of Seven

Quarter Finals Start Tomorrow - Luna Rossa Will Meet Alinghi In Best Of Seven Series

This morning all the skippers attended the opening press conference of the Louis Vuitton Cup 2002-2003 quarter finals which are scheduled to start tomorrow, Tuesday November 12. All the skippers declared what boat they will be racing with. Team Prada will use Luna Rossa ITA 74 as in the firts two Round Robins. The only two teams that will change boats are OneWorld who will sail USA 65 instead of USA 67 and Team Dennis Conner who will race with USA 77 instead of USA 66. At the beginning of the press conference Russell Coutts, skipper of Alinghi, tossed a coin in order to pick the end of the starting line for tomorrow's match against Luna Rossa: he won the yellow, starboard side. Luna Rossa, therefore, will enter the starting box from port.

Starting from tomorrow the eight top seeded teams at the end of Round Robin Two will compete in a best of seven series with the following pairings: Match 1 - Alinghi Challenge (Alinghi SUI 64) versus Prada Challenge 2003 (Luna Rossa ITA 74) Match 2 - Oracle BMW Racing (USA 76) versus OneWorld Challenge (USA 65) Match 3 - Victory Challenge (Orm SWE 73) versus Le Defi Areva (FRA 69) Match 4 - GBR Challenge (Wight Lightning GBR 70) versus Team Dennis Conner (Stars & Stripes USA 77)

Every day the Race Committee will give the start to four match races, two on race course Romeo and two on race course Juliet. The first start of the day will be at 13:15 pm local time, while the last start of the day will not take place after 4:00 pm. Matches on the same race course will start at ten minute intervals. All matches will be sailed over the 18.5 miles windward-leeward course.

The weather forecast for tomorrow is not very good, with SW winds of 22-28 knots and morning showers.

CALENDAR FOR TOMORROW - NOVEMBER 12 Romeo - Match 4 Wight Lightning GBR 70 versus Stars & Stripes USA 77 Romeo - Match 1 Alinghi SUI 64 versus Luna Rossa ITA 74 * Juliet - Match 3 Orm SWE 73 versus Le Defi FRA 69 Juliet - Match 2 Oracle BMW Racing USA 76 versus OneWorld USA 65

* Match broacasted live on TV.

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