Auckland, NZ -- Stars & Stripes gave the Prada Challenge a run for their handbags today on New Zealand's Hauraki Gulf, but the light, shifty and unpredictable wind conditions coupled with a bad start for Stars & Stripes worked against the navy blue boat's favor.

Stars & Stripes crept over the line just a touch early at the start and had to go back and re-cross after the gun.  This gave the Italians a200+ meter lead straight away, which remained consistent throughout the race.  Stars & Stripes was able to reduce the delta on the downwind runs but wasn't able to recover after Prada protected the right on the 3rd beat to weather and made a good gain over USA-55.

"We've been racing really well throughout this Series and I felt we could have beaten Prada today, but it was their race," said Afterguard member Peter Holmberg.  "We stayed with them throughout the race, but we were never able to gain a huge advantage."

Stars & Stripes was stripped of a point yesterday after the International Jury and Arbitration Panel ruled that Team Dennis Conner violated Article 19 of the Protocol for using a rudder that was built in Australia during the first race of the Semi-Final Series against Japan. "We"re very disappointed about the ruling," said Team Dennis Conner's Director of Operations Bill Trenkle.  "The other Challengers have used this 'issue' to gain an off-the-water advantage over Stars & Stripes."

The official delta for today's race was 1:09.  Stars & Stripes now has 3 points and is in 3rd place in the Semi-Final Series of the Louis Vuitton Cup.  Stars & Stripes is scheduled to race the French team, Le defi Francais 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