ED BAIRD AND NYYC/YOUNG AMERICA TEAM ADVANCE TO SEMI-FINALS OF TROFEO CHALLENGE IN ITALY

SOUTH PORTLAND, ME, June 26, 1997- Ed Baird and his New York Yacht Club/Young America crew advanced today to the semi-finals of the Trofeo Challenge Roberto Trombini Match Race in Ravenna, Italy, after completing the round robin with a record of eight wins and three losses. The cash purse for the World Match Racing Circuit event is $60,000.

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 goes into tomorrow's racing with an 8-3 record for a second place overall after the round robin. Peter Holmberg is in first place after the round with nine wins and two losses.

"Today was very shifty with huge holes and cannon ball puffs," Baird saidfrom Ravenna, an Italian port on the Adriatic Sea. "We're sailing comfortably, our speed is reasonable and we're getting off the starting line well," Baird said. "However, the competition is extremely tough and it's hard to be consistent in these conditions. In the three losses so far, once we picked the wrong side, once we had a bad start, and once we incurred a penalty."

In the last race of the round, the NYYC/Young America team defeated France's Bertrand Pace who also advances to the semi-finals with an 8-3 record. Pace is presently No. 3 in the World Match Race Rankings. By defeating Pace, Baird breaks the tie for second place. French match racing champion Luc Pillot advances in fourth place, squeezing out defending champion Chris Law of England.

Twelve teams are competing in the event. Pace, a veteran of the French America's Cup campaigns in 1987, 1992 and 1995, won the Cottonfield Cup in Denmark earlier this month. Law recently led America's Cup Challenger Royal Dorset Yacht Club to the finals of the Mini America's Cup in Auckland, New Zealand, and has recently won the Lymington Cup and Australia Cup. Holmberg heads the St. Thomas Yacht Club's Virgin Islands America's Cup Challenge

The Grade One World Match Racing event has a strong field seeded in the following order: Pace, Baird, Law, 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.