In This Issue:
Torresen Marine Spring Thaw Open House
Congressional Cup- Day 1 results
Around Alone- Class II leaders finish
Featured Brokerage- Classic Daysailer
Road to the Americas Cup- New Zealand's Narrow Win
Heineken Regatta- Results
SORC- Results and Wrap Up

Torresen Marine Spring Thaw Open House
    We hope to see you this Saturday
the 13th at our 19th annual Spring Thaw
open house. Please stop in to see our
remodeled ships store, special prices and
free coffee and cookies. See you Saturday.

Congressional Cup Day 1- 2 sailors are undefeated
    The 35th annual Congressional Cup
match racing regatta is underway. This event
is hosted by Long Beach Yacht Club and is sailed
in Catalina 37's. This years Congressional Cup
carries an ISAF Grade 1 status and $ 15,000 in
prize money.
    The field with skippers from 6 countries
is strong. Included are the reigning Rolex
Yachtsman and Yachtswoman of the year, Paul
Cayard and Betsy Allison. Also, the skipper
group includes three sailors who are slated
to be America's Cup Skippers- Francesco de Angelsi,
Paul Cayard and Peter Holmberg. Finally you
have two former Congressional Cup champions,
Dave Perry and Gavin Brady.
    The double round robin racing began
yesterday. Three flights were sailed. Finishing
up with perfect 3-0 records were Paul Cayard
(victories by :17, :03, and 34 seconds) and
Peter Holmberg (victories by :12, :24 and
27 seconds).
    4 skippers won 2 and lost 1. They are:
Scott Dickson, Luc Pillot, Marcus Weiser and
Francesco de Angelis.
    Sitting alone in the standings at 1 win
2 losses is Gavin Brady.
    Finally at 0-3 after day 1 are
Betsy Allison and Dave Perry.
    The Round Robin racing will continue
until Saturday. For more information see:
www.lbyc.org

Around Alone- Class II leaders finish
    This past week in Around Alone has
seen the leading boats in the Class II 50 foot
and under arrive in Punta Del Este Uruguay.
    For the 3rd time in 3 legs J.P. Moulgine
and Cray Valley were the winners in Class II.
Cray Valley completed the 5960 mile Leg 3 from
Auckland New Zealand in a time of 29 days 15 hours
16 minutes and 34 seconds an average speed of 8.38.
    Cray Valley will have a chance to sail
into history on Leg 4. If J.P. can post a 4th
consecutive victory he will become only the 3rd
sailor to win all 4 legs of Around Alone. The
others to go 4 for 4 are Phillipe Jeanot in 1982
and Yves Dupasquier in 1990.
    Also at issue will be the Class II race
record. At this point Cray Valley's time is
100 days 14 hours, as compared to David Adam's
race record 102 days 4 hours. So, Cray Valley
has time in hand and will likely take the record
for Class II.
    Finishing 2nd again was Magellan Alpha.
This is Magellan's 3rd straight 2nd place in Class
II. Magellan's time was 30 days 7 hours 37 minutes
and 57 seconds, an average speed of 8.19.
    At the finish Mike Garside of Magellan was
happy. He looks forward to battling Balance Bar on
Leg 4, saying: "I shall have every bit of sail up I
can possible go for."
    Again in 3rd spot is Balance Bar.
Californian Brad Van Liew's 3rd place finish took:
30 days 15 hours 30 minutes and 45 seconds.
    After 3 legs Magellan and Balance Bar
have a close race for 3rd, with Magellan 9 hours
20 minutes ahead. Brad Van Liew will attempt to
move up to 2nd in the final standings saying:
"I'm going to bust my ass. Hopefully my age
factor will come in too. I'll be perfectly ready."
    Just today Viktor Yazykov has sailed Wind
of Change to 4th in Class II. Wind of Change is
again the 1st 40 footer to finish. Wind of
Change's time was: 32 days 18 hours 57 minutes
and 20 seconds for an average speed of: 7.57.
    For complete daily reports on Around
Alone visit:
http://www.torresen.com/aroundalone/leg3/toc.htm

Featured Brokerage- Classic Daysailer

    Blu Mac is a 1964 Pearson Electra. Among
the included equipment is: a 1987 Mercury 4 HP outboard
and a double axle trailer.
    Blu Mac comes with 2 mains, a genoa and
a smaller jib. For onboard comfort there are
cockpit cushions. Blu Mac is generally ready to
enjoy.
    Contact the Torresen Marine Sales
Department about how you can enjoy your
1999 Sailing Season on board Blue Mac
a tremendous value at: $ 3950.00.
    For pictures of this classic please see:
http://www.torresen.com/brokerage/electra/

Road to the America's Cup- New Zealand's narrow win
    After a smooth start to the Road to the
America's Cup things got rocky.
    Last Thursday saw Italy post two wins.
One came over France and the other over America
True. The victory over America True was aided
by a blown spinnaker on America True's boat.
There was no third race as one of the boats
developed hydraulic problems.
    Friday's racing was cancelled due to
winds ranging up to 40 knots. Even the low end
breeze of 25 knots is way too much for
America's Cup Class boats. This left the
regatta with 1 race of the 3rd round robin
not sailed and the entire 4th round robin
to complete.
    Saturday saw the third Round Robin
completed with France victorious over America
True. The first race of Round Robin 4 was
the sailed with Italy beating France. France
had difficulty after snagging the starting line
buoy.
    After this race both of the boats
being used developed further problems.
At this point, organizers decided to end the
regatta and roll back the points to the end
of Round 3. This meant that the Italian Prada
challenge would sail the finals against
Team New Zealand.
    The finals were sailed on March 7th.
They were delayed by a lack of wind.
    The first race went to Team New Zealand
by 32 seconds. The second race was won by Prada
by 1 minute 37 seconds.
    This set up a winner take all 3rd match.
This 3rd race was again plagued by problems
with the boats being raced. On the first leg
both teams had genoa problems. Early in the
leg, the boat sailed by Team New Zealand suffered
a genoa halyard failure. Near the 1st windward
mark Prada's genoa came apart at the tack.
    Team New Zealand rounded the 1st mark
ahead by 27 seconds. After the down wind leg,
their margin was 33 seconds.
    Team New Zealand remained in the lead.
However, 300 meters from the finish- fittingly-
Team New Zealand's spinnaker shredded. The Cup
defenders managed to hoist another kite and
edge Prada by only 1 second.
    For more information see:
http://www.americascup2000.org.nz

SORC Wrap Up
    With boats ranging from Melges 24's to
IMS 50 footer, and with racing taking place
within Biscane Bay and on an ocean course
the closest racing in the 1999 Acura SORC was
provided by the offshore one-design fleets.
    The Farr 40 class saw Atalanti XI
and Solution end the 7 race series level
on points. Both had accumulated 34.75 points.
Both had a single 1st place to their credit.
The tiebreaker and regatta victory hinged on
a 2nd place that Solution scored in the
regatta's 1st race. By this margin,
Solution won the SORC Farr 40 class
for the second time running. In 1998
victory came by .25 points, this year
by even less.
    The One Design 35 class made
it's Acura SORC debut with a 13 boat
fleet on the line. The race for 1st
place was just about at close in the
1D35 class. In the end, John Pfeifer's
Northern Bear edged by Picante by .5 points
to win the class. Northern Bear's win
came despite Picante's 3 race wins.
3rd in the 1D35's was Victory sailed by
Buddy Cribb and 4th was Robert Hughes'
Heartbreaker tied with George Collin's
Moxie.
    The Mumm 30 class saw Trouble
win by 15 points over USA 65.
    Other fleets sailing the ocean
course saw good, but not as close racing.
In the IMS fleet the Nelson Marek 50 Idler
dominated, winning by 19 points.
    In PHRF 1 the One Design 48
Starlight scored a 3-point victory over
Fatal Attraction a Farr 39.
    The final ocean course class was
PHRF II. This was won by Dick Steffen's
G&S 30 Zoo II over Key West Race week
class winner Fitikiko. Muskegon's Lunatic
Fringe was 5th in PHRF Class II finishing
strong with a 3rd and a 2nd in the last
two races.
    The Bay Course was home to the
Melges 24, Etchells 22, Hobie 33, PHRF
and Multihull fleets.
    The Melges 24 fleet was won by
Scott Elliot by 5.75 points over Key West
Race week winner Brian Porter sailing
Full Throttle.
    The Etchell's 22 saw Mike Law
take 1st by 6.25 points over the
Altman/Mahon team.
    The 11 boat Hobie 33 group was
won by M. Naugher's Coyote. 2nd by
4.25 points was Moving Party.
    Winning the Bay Class PHRF
fleet was Hustler sailed by J. Esposito.
The multihull winner was Randy Smyth
sailing YO! Smyth won by 4 points.
    For complete results please see
http:// www.regattas.com

Heineken Regatta
    Following up on the preview of the
St Maarten Heineken Regatta big boat class,
this event is now complete. The big boat
class was very eclectic with everything
from brand new maxis to a Whitbread 60
to the vintage styled W class yachts.
    After 4 races the class winner
was Yes, a Sydney 60. Perhaps more
impressive was the new maxi Sagamore's
3 wins in 4 races. However, Sagamore
finished 6th in race 2 enough to cost
her the regatta.
    3rd was Hi Fling, recently boat
of the week at Key West race week. 6th
was the Santa Cruz 70 Pied Piper
beating the Andrews 70 Trader.
    In 9th was Rima the sistership
of Hi Fling. 11th was the Whitbread 60
Brunel Sungergy. The two W class sloops
White Wings and Wild Horses finishes 12th
and 13th.
    Seems as though the newer boats
did well as expected. Still, this group
of boats was one of the most interesting
in a long time.
    The next Caribbean regatta will be
the BVI Spring Regatta April 9th to 11th,
followed by Antigua Sailing Week April 25th
to May 1st.
    These 3 regattas compose the
Caribbean Big Boat series, open to yachts
60 feet and over.
    For more information see:
http://www.heinekenregatta.com/ &
http://www.bigboatseries.com