Auckland, NZ -- Once again, Ken Read and crew managed to pull out a beautiful start at the pin end of the line ahead and to leeward of the Japanese boat, Asura.  At the beginning of the first beat to weather, Stars & Stripes crossed ahead of the Japanese boat and never had more than a 4 boat length lead for the balance of the race.

But the most nail biting part of the race was on the final downwind run.  The wind eased a bit and Japan managed to get within 1 boat length of Stars & Stripes.  "We were sailing really well, but they caught a small shift at the top of the last beat," said Helmsman Ken Read.  "This got Nippon back to within 2 lengths and they didn't make any mistakes on the last run.  We just kept gybing in front of them and made sure we didn't let them by.  These are two really even boats and this was the kind of race where one mistake meant winning or losing and our crew refused to make that mistake."

After the Arbitration Panel ruled this afternoon that Team Dennis Conner had violated the Article 19 rule in the Protocol about appendage nationality, the spirits at the Stars & Stripes base camp were still good.  "The Arbitration Panel interpreted the Protocol differently than we did and although we don't agree with their interpretation, we respect their decision," said Director of Operations Bill Trenkle.  "We want to get beyond this whole entire issue.  We have sailed really well in this Round and the "foreign" rudder never gave us any advantage, it was simply a technicality that is unfortunate."

The final delta of the race today was :10 seconds.  Stars & Stripes is scheduled to race the Italian syndicate, Prada Challenge, tomorrow at 1:25 p.m. NZ Time.

For more information contact: Veronica Cahill
Media Relations
Team Dennis Conner
Sailing Compound: 64-9-9799-700
Mobile: 029-99-2013