Prada purchase Young Americas yachts

PRADA PURCHASES YOUNG AMERICA'S YACHTS

Patrizio Bertelli, CEO of team Prada, announced today: "We have purchased Young America's yachts USA 53 and USA 58 and their racing equipment. It will be possible to perform various tests and it will be very valuable to have four boats - two for each operations base, in Italy and New Zealand - to carry out the training. For the time being we will ship all four boats back to Italy".

TEAM PRADA'S ACTIVITIES

Design Team

A series of meetings are being currently held at Prada's operations base in Auckland in order to determine the new lay-outs and programmes. In the first meeting there has been consensus on the themes and the projects for the future.

Sailing Team

The team is holding meeting to discuss the training sessions, the racing schedule and the sailing team structure for the next three years. The start of the next training session in Punta Ala, Italy, has been set for June 2000. The team will probably return to Auckland in October/November to train, once again, throughout the New Zealand summer.

The sailing team, in collaboration with the sail loft staff, has began the long process of checking and storing the sails and the equipment.

The work on the two Luna Rossa yachts has begun, in order to get them ready for the shipping to Italy (5 weeks of sailing approximately) which will take place by April.

Logistics

The operations base in Auckland will be temporarily shut down; it will be neither subleased nor dismantled, and it will be ready to receive the team according to their training calendar.

Olympic campaigns

In line with its commitment in sailing, Prada will support the Olympic Campaigns of some sailors within the team.

The Olympic campaigns for Sydney 2000 of the following Prada team members have been finalised in detail: Torben Grael (Star class, Brazil), Pietro D'Alì (Star class, Italy) and Rod Davis (Soling class, New Zealand).

Team Prada invited to the New Zealand Parliament

Wednesday 8 March team Prada will meet New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark, together with Team New Zealand, in Wellington (capital city of New Zealand). After the function at Parliament House the team will parade to the Civic Square.

More Information: www.Prada-americascup.com