In This Issue:
See the One Design 35 at Strictly Sail
Around Alone Report
America True Selects Crew
The Race Annual Meeting
Melges 24 North Americans

Strictly Sail to see One Design 35
    1999 Strictly Sail Chicago is the
grand debut for the One Design 35 in a
Great Lakes area boat show. Torresen Marine,
in association with Total Management, will
have Hull #29 fresh out of the factory at
the show.
    The 1D35 will be located in the West
end of the exhibition hall at Navy Pier.
With its sleek lines and seven foot draft,
the 1D35 will be hard to miss.
    Torresen Marine will have an additional
booth set up just around the corner from the
1D35 display in booth #341, our third year in
that location. There will be a display featuring
several of our 100+ sailboat brokerage listings,
as well as representatives from our sailing
school, service department & ship's store to
answer any questions you may have.
    Be sure to visit Torresen Marine's
booth and 1D35 display at the 1999 Strictly
Sail Chicago show, January 28-31 at Navy Pier
in Chicago. If you love sailing & sailboats -
this is a must go to show.
We hope to see you there !

Around Alone Report for December 9th
    Note: Around Alone is the longest
race on earth for an individual. The 15 boat
fleet started in September in Charleston and
finished leg 1 in Cape Town South Africa. Now
they are sailing to Auckland New Zealand on Leg
2. Leg 2 started Saturday.
    The racing portion of the fleet has
gained two boats. George Stricker's
Rapscallion III has a new aluminum boom, and
rejoined the race last nite. Class I's Modern
University for the Humanities has finally
started Leg 2.
    Still not racing is South Carolina.
Robin Davie feels he should depart Thursday.
    The leading yacht on the course is Fila.
Currently Fila is the north most yacht, leading
PRB by 17 miles.
    3rd in Class I is Group 4 37 miles back.
Group 4 is south of the two boats ahead.
    4th is Somewhere 72 miles back. 5th in
Class I is Gartmore. Gartmore is 136 miles back.
Skipper Josh Hall comments: "It is the same for
all of us in the faster boats but I know I am
not as cavalier as they are and this translates
into me sailing the boat a bit more
conservatively than them. In the long run this
may or may not prove to be an advantage as my
primary aim is to get me and the machine to
Auckland in one piece - to achieve that we
have to look after each other."
    Magellan Alpha is still the Class II
leader. Her lead is 62 miles over Cray Valley
only 4 less than yesterday.
    Balance Bar has moved up to 3rd place,
126 miles from 1st. The first 40 footer is
Wind of Change, now in 4th place in Class II.
From Wind of Change Viktor Yazykov reports:
"The best speed 24 knots by Trimble."
    5th in Class II is www.no-barriers.com.
Neal Petersen continues to sail well to the
north of most of the fleet.
    Paladin 2 is 6th in Class II. Next
is Shuten Dojhi II, 560 miles back of the
leaders.
    So far the fleet has experienced
plenty of breeze and is off to a fast start.
Indeed the conditions have been gear busting
from the start. The open question is - in
Southern Ocean conditions what is the best
way to go fast and keep in one piece.
    You can decide to push right from
the start, or you can sail more conservatively.
Group 4's Mike Golding frames the decision
this way: "The problem is that if you cram on
sail you can get south and towards the mark
at the same time but the risk of early
breakage are high."
    Additionally, you must consider your
standing in the race. Soldini is behind and
feels he must be super aggressive to gain
in the standings table. Hall, also trailing,
feels a more conservative approach can get
him caught up. Certainly in 7000 miles of
sailing someone will be right, and someone
else will need another strategy for victory
on Leg 3.
    To see how this exciting sailing plays
out and for daily reports complete with an
update on each boat in the fleet please visit:
http://www.torresen.com/aroundalone/leg2/stories.htm

America True Names Crew Members
    America True the San Francisco Yacht Club
challenge for America's Cup 2000, announced its
1998-1999 team roster. This America's Cup
will be sailed in Auckland New Zealand.
    The most signifigant part of the
crew selection is America True is the first
campaign making an assertive effort to include
both men and women on an active racing team.
America True CEO Dawn Riley says: "Power,
agility, finesse, and knowledge are needed in
different places on the boat. No one man or
woman has the perfect combination, but when
you put men and women together on a team,
they become very efficient."
    The True roster has sailor of talent
and experience. 25 year old afterguard member
Gavin Bray ranks 4th on the match race circut.
Katie Pettibone sailed on The Women's Team
during the 1995 America's Cup and recently
completed the Whitbread Round the World race
on EF Education.
    In contrast the roster also has some
newcomers to sailing. America True held a
tryout camp in October. This camp netted
5 non professional sailors.
    America True sailing team is in New
Zealand. Recently Gavin Brady won the New
Zealand national match racing championships.
Included in this victory was wind over
Prada's Francesco de Angelis and Chris Dickson.
    Next they will begin sailing in
America's Cup Class boats. America True
will be sailing the boat that Chris Dickson
raced in the '95 cup.
    Finally, America True has begun
construction on their first new boat.
This is the first of 2 boats that America
True plans to build.
    For more info see:  www.americatrue.org

The Race Annual Meeting
    This past Thursday through Saturday
was the annual meeting of The Race. The Race
- a "no limit", non-stop, no-assistance
round-the-world race with crew will start
31 December 2000.
    At this point there are 13 declared
challengers for The Race. They are as
follows: Ross Field (New Zealand)
Pete Goss (Great Britain)
Henk de Velde (Holland)
Fedor Konioukhov (Russia)
Loïck Peyron (France)
Grant Dalton (New Zealand)
Lawrie Smith (Great Britain)
Cam Lewis (USA)
Tracy Edwards (Great Britain)
Lionel Péan/Peder Silverhjelm (France/Sweden)
Tony Bullimore (Great Britain)
Florence Arthaud (France)
and Roman Paszke (Poland).
    There are also 7 unofficial
challengers: Steve Fossett (USA)
Laurent Bourgnon (Switzerland)
Paolo Martinoni (Italy)
Guillermo Altadill (Spain)
Ludde Ingvall (Sweden),and
Bob Miller (USA).
    Also at the annual meeting
France Telecom joined the Race as a
sponsor. Along with Volvo and
Disneyland Paris this gives the Race
top drawer sponsors.
    Already there are 3 construction
projects underway. Steve Fossett has a 1
17 foot catamaran ready to be launched from
Cookson's in New Zealand. Laurent Bourgnon
has a 123 foot catamaran under way in France.
Britain's Pete Goss is buidling a 125 foot
catamarn in Great Britain.
    There is still 8 months left to the
drop dead date for building an entry. This
means that from now to August there should
be multiple announcements about the building
of huge boats for The Race.
    For more information see:
http://www.therace.org/english/index.htm &
http://www.petegoss.com

Melges 24- NA's
    This event was sailed December 4-6
at Lauderdale Yacht Club in Ft. Lauderdale
Florida. 40 boats sailed 7 races.
    The winner was Brian Porter of of
Lake Geneva WI. With 26 points he was 4
clear of Scott Elliott of Lake Lanier SC.
Another 4 points back was Neil Sullivan
of Annapolis MD.
    Lake Michigan Sailors racing were:
Robert Hughes of Macatawa Bay YC finishing
14th with 65 points. He sailed Heartbreaker
to a 3rd in race 4. Paula Zubrzycki of
Chicago finished 17th. She topped out
with an 8th place finish in race in the
1st race. Mike Dow finished 21st with
111 points. A 12th place in race 7 was his
best finish.
    For complete results please see:
http://www.lyc.org/newpage13.htm