GRAM-HANSEN, SPITHILL ON FORM AFTER FIRST DAY OF ACI HTmobile Cup

Australia`s James Spithill and crew in action at the ACI HTmobile Cup.

SPLIT, Croatia (May 27, 2003) – Brilliant Mediterranean sunshine greeted the 11 skippers taking part in the first day of the Swedish Match Tour’s ACI HTmobile Cup in Split on Croatia's Dalmatian coast.

After the first day of racing, Swedish Match Tour leader Jes Gram-Hansen of Team Victory Lane and Australia’s James Spithill, former helmsman for the OneWorld Challenge, top the leaderboard with unblemished records of 3-0.

As competitors and race committee waited for the sea breeze to fill in the first flight got underway in 12-knot winds from the southwest.

The liveliest matches of the day came from Chris Law's "rum drinking and guitar playing" team, “The Outlaws.” In their first match they were dispatched by young Australian America's Cup helm, James Spithill, after a neck and neck match. During this, Law's team caught a penalty due to an overlap infringement. They were luckier in the second flight when they picked up a small gust to roll past Italy's Paolo Cian of the Riviera di Rimini Sailing Team on the first run.

A surprise result in the second flight, held in much the same conditions as the first, came when Allan Coutts dispatched former Swedish Match Tour winner and victor at the last Swedish Match Tour event in Elba, Magnus Holmberg. Coutts, who has a famous uncle in Alinghi skipper and triple America's Cup winner, Russell Coutts, is representing Alinghi and four of his five crew were part of the winning America's Cup team. The fifth, Bruce Curson, campaigned a 49er with Coutts during the Sydney Olympics.

"It's a great opportunity to put into practice some of the skills we learned sailing with Russell, Brad (Butterworth) and Jochen (Schumann) during the Cup," commented Coutts, for whom the ACI HTmobile Cup is his first ever event on the Swedish Match Tour.

The third and final flight today saw a massive windshift as an ugly black squall passed over the fleet doubling the wind strength in a matter of seconds. In his match against Swedish Match Tour leader Jes Gram Hansen of Team Victory Lane, Coutts said that they had been behind off the line and when the shift came through it became a case of "following my leader".

The drama also returned with “The Outlaws” sailing against Poland's Karol Jablonski.

In a protest-laden match, Dobbs Davis, tactician for “The Outlaws,” described the decisive moment following the big shift. "He took his spinnaker down and put his jib up and our Croatian guys did a great job of flying the spinnaker on a close reach, so we rolled over Karol." At this point the Outlaws had a protest outstanding. They just managed to rid themselves of the penalty prior to crossing the finish line. "We had to tack, bear away and then gybe to get to the line - we had to do a full 360," said Davis. "But the wind was blowing so strong that we couldn't turn. We only just got around. That was a nervous moment."

The two teams showing form at the end of the first day of the ACI HTmobile Cup are James Spithill and Jes Gram-Hansen, neither of whom have dropped a match. Gram-Hansen is looking particularly confident. In the second flight against Sweden's Mattias Rahm he was almost a leg ahead at the finish after he had driven Rahm into a windless zone beneath the cliffs here off Split.

At 17:26 local time the race committee decided to finish racing for the day.

The weather for tomorrow looks set to be light, once again relying on the sea breeze to provide enough wind for racing.

ACI HTmobile Cup Round Robin Results
Flight 1
Karol Jablonski def. Johnie Berntsson
James Spithill def. Chris Law
Jesper Radich def. Allan Coutts
Magnus Holmberg def. Mattias Rahm
Jes Gram-Hansen def. Frane Brate

Flight 2
James Spithill def Johnie Berntsson
Chris Law def Paolo Cian
Allan Coutts def Magnus Holmberg
Jes Gram-Hansen def Mattias Rahm
Jesper Radich def Frane Brate

Flight 3
James Spithill def Paolo Cian
Chris Law def Karol Jablonski
Jes Gram-Hansen def Allan Coutts
Magnus Holmberg def Jesper Radich
Mattias Rahm def Frane Brate

For all the latest news and information about the Swedish Match Tour, visit www.swedishmatchtour.com.

About the Swedish Match Tour
· The Swedish Match Tour is comprised of nine of the world's leading professional sailing events and is proving to be the ultimate battleground of sailing.
· In addition to more than US$800,000 in individual event prize money, the Swedish Match Tour awards US$200,000 to the top eight sailors on the Swedish Match Tour, with the first-place skipper netting US$60,000.
· In addition to a US$60,000 first prize, the winner of the Swedish Match Tour receives the official Swedish Match Tour Championship Trophy, 15" (30 cm) high with 22 carat gold gilding, produced by Swedish Match Tour sponsor Wedgwood. Additionally, Wedgwood supplies runner-up prizes for second and third places as well as commemorative plaques to each event organizer.
· The Swedish Match Tour produces 155 hours of television coverage reaching more than 427 million households worldwide.
· Swedish Match Tour partners include Swedish Match, Octagon and the Match Race Association.
· Swedish Match Tour sponsors include Colorcraft, Champagne Mumm, Musto, Selden and Wedgwood.