The CIGNA/Knickerbocker Cup, a professional match race sailing regatta hosted by the Knickerbocker Yacht Club, kicks-off Wednesday, Sept. 10 with two days of qualifying round robin races. Eight teams advance through a best-of-five series of quarter-final and semi-final races culminating in a head-to-head, best-of-five finals series on Sunday, Sept. 14.

        One of 16 world class skippers from nine countries competing for a $50,000 purse and important world ranking points, No. 6 world-ranked Holmberg is expected to face tough competition from Australian Peter Gilmour, the newly-crowned winner of the 1997 World Championship of Match.

Racing who is attempting to recapture the No. 1 world ranking (currently held by long-time rival Russell Coutts of New Zealand). Raced in identical J-105 yachts, the Knickerbocker Cup afford an excellent opportunity to test teamwork and tactical skills.

Holmberg is one of five competitors who head teams training for the America's Cup 2000: Gilmour (Japan's Nippon Challenge); Marc Pajot (Switzerland's FAST 2000); Dawn Riley (America True) and Murray Jones (Team New Zealand).

Other top-ranked skippers slated for the event are: France's Bertrand Pacé (No. 4); Denmark's Mikkel Rossberg (No. 15); New Zealand's Gavin Brady (No. 16); Finland's Staffan Lindberg (No. 28); France's Sebastien Destremau (No. 29); Great Britain's Andy Green (No. 47); and Croatia's Tomislav Basic (No. 48). Other notable entries include America ³ Cup-winning helmsman David Dellenbaugh, Terry Hutchinson of Annapolis, and Australian national champion David Clark. The winner of the recent J-Boats Nationals will also qualify.

Now in its 16th year, the Knickerbocker Cup is the premier match racing event on the East Coast and the centerpiece of the week-long, multi-event Festival of Sail -- during which CIGNA Corporation makes its debut as a title sponsor in the sport of sailing. The Festival is expected to attract over 20,000 spectators. "The sport of match race sailing has grown at an exponential rate over the last decade," says Scott MacLoed, president of Sail Sports International, the event's organizer and manager.