March 13, 1998: TEAM CARIBBEAN TAKES SOLE POSSESSION OF LEAD AT CONGRESSIONAL CUP

TEAM CARIBBEAN TAKES SOLE POSSESSION OF LEAD AT CONGRESSIONAL CUP

Long Beach, CA -March 13- Team Caribbean, led by skipper Peter Holmberg of St. Thomas, won all three races today to increase its score line to 13-2 with one day of racing left at the Congressional Cup. Frenchman Luc Pillot, who finished yesterday's racing tied for the lead, fell to 11-4 after losses today to American Terry Hutchinson and New Zealander Scott Dickson, who now lives in Long Beach. Dickson also stands at 11-4. With just three races to go, Holmberg and crew need one victory tomorrow to assure at least a tie and two wins to clinch the championship.

``It was another light air day," said Holmberg, ``with winds in the 5 to 10 knot range. As in yesterday's racing, our aggressive tactics in the pre-start area basically won each of the races for us. In our first two matches we were able to tag our opponents with two penalties each, giving us a huge advantage as they had to perform two full turns."

The regatta's leaders, representing the Team Caribbean America's Cup Challenge which originated in the U.S. Virgin Islands and was co-founded by Holmberg, beat Russian Andrei Nikolaev, Andy Green of Great Britain, and Hutchinson in today's racing. The only difficulties for the team came from a large mass of seaweed and bamboo that floated on the surface in the middle of the course.

Holmberg once again credited his tactician John Cutler with the right calls at the right time. ``John and I are working extremely well together. He's the one who changed our pre-start strategy and it has paid off. All I do is turn the wheel. He's the brain power in this operation and Ben Beer, Steve Gruver, Morgan Avery, and Matt Smith have been flawless in their crew work."

Both Beer and Avery are St. Thomas residents, as was Gruver before moving to Connecticut. Team Caribbean is now guaranteed at least a share of the $15,000 purse to be split among the top three finishers. This is the first time in the history of the Congressional Cup money will be awarded. But perhaps just as important to Holmberg are valuable rankings points to be gained with a victory. The skipper currently holds the sixth place ranking out of more than 1,200 match racers throughout the world.

Team Caribbean will meet Dickson, Pillot, and Germany's Markus Weiser in tomorrow's finale. Both Dickson and Weiser are responsible for the two tallies in the loss column for Holmberg and crew. Following the California regatta, Team Caribbean will sail their International America's Cup Class training yacht Stars & Stripes '92 to Puerto Rico next week for a news conference and fund raising activities. In April, the team will fly to Auckland, New Zealand to compete in the Mini America's Cup against other Cup challengers. And while those events are exciting aspects of the long America's Cup campaign, there's little doubt the six men representing Team Caribbean at the Congressional Cup have little more than Saturday's last three races on their minds.

USVI

*Standings*
Peter Holmberg (USVI)	13-2
Luc Pillot (FRA)	11-4
Scott Dickson (USA)	11-4
Markus Weiser (GER)	8-7
Terry Hutchinson (USA)	8-7
Neville Wittey (AUS)	7-8
Andy Green (GBR)	7-8
Magnus Holmberg (SWE)	5-10
Francesco de Angelis (ITA)	4-11
Andrei Nikolaev (RUS)	1-14