Investors Guaranty™ Presents The King Edward VII Gold Cup - Exciting Second Day

HAMILTON, Bermuda (October 19, 2003) – Thirty two matches were raced on Hamilton Harbor today as action heated up at the Investors Guaranty Presentation of the King Edward VII Gold Cup, the second event on Swedish Match Tour 2003/2004, and the Bermuda International Women’s Match Racing Championship.

American Ed Baird of Team XL Capital remained the only undefeated skipper in the unseeded men’s competition of this match racing classic, while Bermudian Paula Lewin of Team Ace Group maintained her spotless record and position atop the women’s standings.

In Group 1 action, five skippers posted records of 2-1 on the day, including the three skippers, New Zealand’s Cameron Appleton of Team Triangle Rigging, fellow Kiwi Cameron Dunn and Italy’s Paolo Cian of the Riviera di Rimini Sailing Team, currently tied for first place in the Group with overall records of 4-1.

The value and precision of the pre-start process was a familiar theme at this evening’s press conference and seemed to be the key in the skippers’ minds to their current and future success this week.

“We had the goal today to improve our starting, its pretty hard to execute a penalty turn in these boats and you want to give yourself the best chance possible entering the race,” said Appleton.

“One mistake in these conditions, in these boats, and a race can be gone,” agreed Cian. “I’m very happy with the crew work, but our starting needs to get better,”

In this morning’s action in Group 2, American Ed Baird of Team XL Capital remained undefeated after dismissing his opponents Sweden’s Magnus Holmberg of Team Continental Airlines, fellow American Bill Hardesty and Great Britain’s Andy Green of Team Renaissance Reinsurance.

“We were quite lucky to have the puffs come through in the right order today,” said Baird. “We very easily could be 1-4 right now, this is a tricky place to sail.”

Three skippers are knotted on three wins including local favorite Peter Bromby of Team Ace Group, who roared back from a disappointing first day to win all three of his matches this morning.

“My crew did a fantastic job today, I got my act together a little bit better than yesterday,” said Bromby. “We’re going to try and get both wins tomorrow, but we definitely need one if we want a chance to get through to the next round.

Joining Bromby on three wins is Scott Dickson of the Dickson Racing Team and Hardesty. With only the top three finishers from each Group advancing to the main draw as well as the finalists from the Bermuda International Women’s Match Racing Championships, the action on Monday will be furious as no doubt a countback situation will come into play to determine at least one of the skippers who will move on to join the seeded group later this week.

In the Bermuda International Women’s Match Racing Championship, Lewin was joined by the United States Deborah Willits at 2-0 on the day, while Sweden’s Jenny Axhede of Team Panorama split her results today and is at 3-1 overall with Willits, enjoying the tie-breaker over her American competitor.

“We’re very pleased with our results,” said Lewin. “We had some tough matches and things went our way. Both races were really exciting today and I’m happy with our starts, we’ve been able to put the boat where we want it to be.”

A second straight day of light and shifty conditions, with winds ranging from three to seven knots, fueled the racing.

"It was a long day, but we got it in and I want to thank the Race Committee,” said Royal Bermuda Yacht Club Commodore P. Leslie Crane. “The wind got a little squirrelly this afternoon, but we’re in good shape going into tomorrow.”

Another full day of racing is scheduled for Monday, October 20th, beginning at 9:00 am local time.

Today’s Results

Unseeded Skippers – Group 1

Skipper Wins Losses
1.Cameron Appleton, NZ/Team Triangle Riggins 4 1
2.Cameron Dunn, New Zealand 4 1
3.Paolo Cian, ITA/Riviera di Rimini Sailing Team 4 1
4.Staffan Lindberg, Finland 3 2
5.Kelvin Harrap, New Zealand 2 3
6.Adam Barboza, BER/Team Bacardi 1 4
7.Matthew Gregory, USA 1 4
8.Maxim Taranov, Russia 1 4

Flight 3
Barboza def. Gregory
Cian def. Taranov
Appleton def. Harrap
Lindberg def. Dunn

Flight 4
Appleton def. Gregory
Lindberg def. Cian
Dunn def. Taranov
Harrap def. Barboza

Flight 5
Dunn def. Appleton
Harrap def. Lindberg
Gregory def. Taranov
Cian def. Barboza

Unseeded Skippers – Group 2

Skipper Wins Losses

1.Ed Baird, USA/Team XL Capital 5 0
2.Peter Bromby, BER/Team ACE Group 3 2
3.Scott Dickson, USA/Dickson Racing Team 3 2
4.Bill Hardesty, USA 3 2
5.Mattias Rahm, SWE/Team Stena Bulk 2 3
6.Blythe Walker, BER/Team Bacardi 2 3
7.Andy Green, GBR/Team Renaissance Reinsurance 1 4
8.Magnus Holmberg, SWE/Team Continental Airlines 1 4

Flight 3
Bromby def. Hardesty
Dickson def. Walker
Baird def. Holmberg
Rahm def. Green

Flight 4
Baird def. Hardesty
Dickson def. Rahm
Walker def. Green
Bromby def. Holmberg

Flight 5
Baird def. Green
Holmberg def. Rahm
Hardesty def. Walker
Bromby def. Dickson

Bermuda International Women’s Match Racing Championships

Skipper Wins Losses

1.Paula Lewin, BER/Team Ace Group 4 0
2.Jenny Axhede, SWE/Team Panorama 3 1
3.Deborah Willits, USA 3 1
4.Sally Barkow, USA 2 2
5.Elizabeth Kratzig, USA 2 2
6.Betsy Alison, USA 1 3
7.Sandy Hayes, USA 1 3
8.Klaartje Zuiderbaan, Netherlands 0 4

Flight 3
Axhede def. Kratzig
Barkow def. Zuiderbaan
Lewin def. Alison
Willits def. Hayes

Flight 4
Kratzig def. Alison
Willits def. Barkow
Hayes def. Zuiderbaan
Lewin def. Axhede

For more information about Investors Guaranty’s presentation of The King Edward VII Gold Cup, contact the Royal Bermuda Yacht Club race office at +1-441-295-2214 or visit www.KingEdwardVIIGoldCup.com.

About Investors Guaranty™ www.investorsguaranty.com
The Investors Guaranty Global Alliance™ is comprised of over 60 companies in Europe, North America and Australasia dedicated to optimizing, integrating a nd marketing their core competencies. Alliance members outsource their non-strategic functions and implement global “best-practices” in compliance with standards promulgated by Investors Guaranty GmbH (Zurich). Alliance companies specialize in strategic investments, insurance and banking technologies, asset management and fund administration, legal and accounting systems, administrative and corporate management services, branding and media, and information technologies.

About the Swedish Match Tour www.swedishmatchtour.com
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 Group and Wedgwood.