Auckland, NZ -- Stars & Stripes sailed perfectly today and earned an exciting and close victory over the French boat, Le defi Francais, to stay in contention for the Final Series of the Louis Vuitton Cup.

Once again, flawless crew work paid off on the racecourse for Stars & Stripes.  After four very close legs, where the boats were never more than 18 seconds apart, USA-55's Afterguard predicted a left shift on the final windward leg and pulled away from the French, gaining a 50 second advantage at the final weather mark.

"The French team did a fantastic job today and their boat went really
fast," said Afterguard Member Tom Whidden. "When the wind started to ease, they were particularly fast, so we tried to sail very conservatively.  Our crew sailed better today than I have seen so far in this Regatta.  They didn't make any mistakes and Kenny (Read) just did an awesome job driving, so we were definitely able to benefit from our consistent crew work."

The final delta for today's race was 19 seconds.  Stars & Stripes, who is now tied with Japan at 4 points each, is scheduled to race the San Francisco-based America True syndicate tomorrow starting at 1:35 p.m. NZ Time.

For more information contact: Veronica Cahill
Media Relations