Light Air Wreaks Havoc with Atlantic Coast Championship Fleet
October 3, 1997

St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands -- Designated skipper for the Virgin Islands America's Cup Challenge, Peter Holmberg and VIACC tactician John Cutler raced Tom Stark's Corel 45 Rush to a frustrating fourth in the only race of three completed before the wind dropped out of today's Atlantic Coast Championship being contested on Narragansett Bay.

Heading into day two only a point out of first in the standings, Holmberg was driving for the finish of the three-lap windward-leeward course off Rhode Island before the wind wreaked havoc on the five-boat Corel 45 fleet. "When we rounded the final weather mark, Rush was in second and Heatwave was in last place by 300 yards. Then a new breeze came in, and Sal Giordano's Heatwave went from last to first," explained Holmberg. Helmed by America's Cup veteran Gary Jobson, Nitemare finished in second, France's Faster K-Yote in third, and the day one leader, Tom Hill's Titan, in fifth. Mumm 36 World Champion tactician, John Kostecki, is calling strategy for Titan skipper Terry Hutchinson.

With a single day of racing remaining in an event that's regarded as the tune-up for November's Corel 45 World Championships in Ft. Lauderdale, a three-point spread is all that separates some of the world's best skippers and crews.