ED BAIRD AND NYYC/YOUNG AMERICA TEAM TO FACE PETER HOLMBERG IN FINALS OF TROFEO CHALLENGE IN ITALY

Young America Team Defeats Bertrand Pace 3-0 in Semi-Finals

SOUTH PORTLAND, ME, June 27, 1997- Ed Baird and his New York Yacht Club/Young America crew will meet Peter Holmberg in the finals of the Trofeo Challenge Roberto Trombini Match Race in Ravenna, Italy, tomorrow after defeating France's Bertrand Pace today 3-0 in the semi-finals.

The NYYC/Young America sailing team includes skipper Baird, the top-ranked U.S. match racer; Tony Rey, tactician; Geordie Shaver, foredeck; and Jon Gundersen, trimmer. The NYYC/Young America team faces Holmberg, skipper of the U.S. Virgin Islands America's Cup Challenge, in the finals. Holmberg defeated France's Luc Pillot 3-0 in the semi-finals. Pace and Pillot will face-off in the petit-finals.

"Tony did a great job calling the shifts today," Baird said from Ravenna. "We were faster, we had better tacks and better boat speed. The crew did a great job today of keeping us fast." The semi-finals were sailed inside Ravenna's breakwater in 10-18 knots of breeze on three-lap courses with a large spectator fleet.

In the first race, the NYYC/Young America team was penalized in the pre-start, but won the start, leading the first lap of the course. By the third lap, the NYYC/Young America crew was about six boat lengths ahead, and completed the penalty turn in time to beat Pace across the line. In the second race, Baird was ahead off the line and led around the course to win.

In the third race, the NYYC/Young America team had the spinnaker pole set going into the windward mark with Pace so close to leeward that the two boats almost collided. Pace decided not to tack and ducked behind Baird, hooking the spinnaker pole, breaking it in half and ripping the spinnaker sheet out of the boat.

"Pace was attacking us on the second downwind leg," Baird said. "We were at a disadvantage in the jibing duel without a pole." The umpires assessed a second penalty to Pace, forcing the French team to take the penalty turn immediately. The NYYC/Young America crew widened the gap, winning the race. "It was a wild day," Baird said.

Pace was the top-seeded sailor for this event. A veteran of the French America's Cup campaigns in 1987, 1992 and 1995, Pace won the Cottonfield Cup in Denmark earlier this month. Pillot is the current French Match Racing Champion.

The cash purse for the World Match Racing Circuit event is $60,000. The Grade One World Match Racing event field was seeded in the following order: Pace, Baird, Chris Law (GBR), Holmberg, Pillot, Gavin Brady (NZL), Mario Celon (ITA), Per Petterson (SWE), Nicola Celon (ITA), Murray Jones (NZL), Matteo Simoncelli (ITA), and Paolo Cian (ITA).

The NYYC/Young America team is fresh from a victory last weekend at the NYYC Maxi Yacht Regatta in Newport, R.I., sailing the team's Maxi, Falcon2000, and a third place at Denmark's Cottonfield Cup, a World Match Racing Circuit event. The Trofeo Challenge is the second Circuit event of the eight World Match Racing events on the NYYC/Young America schedule for 1997. This event is the final opportunity for the team to tune-up for next week's Swedish Match World Championship of Match Race Sailing in Marstrand, Sweden, July 1-6..