Sponsor for team racing worlds

Vodka manufacturer comes on board for September's championship in Newport

Grey Goose® Vodka is giving team racing a boost with its title sponsorship of this September’s 2005 ISAF (International Sailing Federation) Team Racing World Championship, which will be hosted by the New York Yacht Club (NYYC) from its Harbour Court clubhouse in Newport, R.I. The partnership brings together one of the most dramatic success stories in the spirits industry with the fastest growing segment of sailing.

"We anticipate a bigger, better, more festive event with the support of Grey Goose," said Steven Wolff, Chairman of New York Yacht Club’s Sailing Committee and Event Chairman for what will now be known as the 2005 Grey Goose ISAF Team Racing World Championship. "The club is working hard to bring all the parts of this huge undertaking together, for competitors and spectators."

Wolff explained that this biennial event, last held in Auckland, New Zealand, expects to host teams from at least eight countries including the United States, Australia, Canada, Great Britain, India, Ireland, Japan and the Czech Republic. The team-racing format, known for its lightning-fast pace, which emphasises tactics and boat handling, includes races that are typically seven to eight minutes in duration.

"It is highly visual," said Wolff, "with color-coded sails and non-stop action among the six-person teams who must strategize while sailing two-to-a-boat, three vs. three. It’s not the single boat that wins, but the best combined score among the three-boat teams that matters."

"Team racing and Grey Goose have both had meteoric rises in popularity," said Monsell Darville, VP Group Marketing Director at Bacardi U.S.A., Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Bacardi Limited and the U.S. import, sales, and marketing arm of one of the world's leading wine and spirits producers. "We are excited to introduce Grey Goose to the sport through this dynamic event at one of the most prestigious yacht clubs in America."

The 2005 event will be sailed in small, high-performance planing dinghies, Vanguard 15s. Two days of practice racing kick off the on-the-water action, with opening ceremonies set for Sunday evening, September 25, 2005. The series gets down to serious business when racing begins on Monday, September 26, with upwards of 400 races expected to be held before the teams who move into the finals on October 1 are determined. Awards will be presented on Saturday, October 1, followed by Closing Ceremonies.

In addition to Grey Goose, supporting sponsors are North Sails, Ribcraft Inc., manufacturers of rigid inflatable boats, Rolex Watch U.S.A., Sailing World magazine and Vanguard Sailboats, manufacturer of the Vanguard 15s. Suppliers are Challenge Electronics, Crystal Spring Water, Heineken, J. Lohr Vineyards & Wines, Jail House Inn and the Newport Harbor Hotel. The organizing authority for the championship is NYYC, ISAF and US SAILING, the United States’ Member National Authority (MNA) of ISAF.