Swan American regatta opens to light wind

by Dana Paxton on 10 Jul 2001 The 33 yachts competing here this week were
welcomed by a light southerly breeze that left more than a few tacticians
scratching their heads. At the end of the day Frank Savage's Lolita
(Stamford, Conn.) managed to hold off a strong challenge from Sotto Voce,
owned by Alex Van Vemde (NED) in the Big Boat Class, with Swan 51 Syrocco,
owned by Sam Fortenbaugh (Greenwich, Conn.) victorious in the Small Boat
fleet.

Deutsche Bank Private Banking Race Day saw light and fluky conditions that
put light-air boathandling skills at a premium, with picking the right
windshifts crucial to success. Winner of the big boat class, Frank Savage
in his Swan 56 Lolita, outlined the importance of this factor. 'Calling
the windshifts right was critical today in the light conditions, if you got
these wrong then it was hard to recover. We managed to call these right
about 95 percent of the time, with the tactician and crew doing a great
job.'

The New York Yacht Club Race Committee from the fleet was sent on an
Olympic-style course on the Rhode Island Sound, after a one-hour
postponement to wait for the sea breeze to fill in. The majority of the
fleet took the locals advice that when in Newport, it pays to go right,
with Lolita and Sotto Voce taking an early lead.

The wind cooperated with the theory off the starting line, but halfway up
the first beat it shifted south and gave the boats on the left-hand side of
the course a welcome advantage. John Brim's (New York, N.Y.) Swan 48
Broadsword was one that benefited from the gift. He is in third in class
ahead of Nader Habashi's (Huntersville, NC) Swan 56 Redoubtable. Despite
this shift, Sotto Voce and Lolita rounded ahead of the fleet.

In the small boat fleet, all but two of the boats chose the right hand side
of the course. Sam Fortenbaugh's Syrocco started well and were first
around the windward mark. The Swan 51 built on their lead to take line
honours and first place on corrected time.

Paul Higgins, Head of U.S. Private Banking (USPB), Deutsche Bank, New York,
commented: 'It was wonderful to see the Swan fleet racing with Deutsche
Bank Private Banking burgees today. I must confess that we have a personal
stake in this regatta as a team of Deutsche Bank employees from around the
globe is racing on Raindancer, owned by Olof Nelson, a managing director
with the Private Bank. They started with a solid mid-fleet position
today.'

About U.S. Private Banking, Deutsche Bank
U.S. Private Banking, Deutsche Bank provides a sophisticated holistic
approach to strategic wealth management. Our experienced professionals
offer clients a full complement of innovative wealth management tools to
preserve and enhance their wealth. The U.S. Private Bank is part of global
Deutsche Bank Private Banking serves more than half a million clients and
manages assets of EUR 300 billion. Deutsche Bank Private Banking is a
division of Deutsche Bank, which manages more than EUR 1 trillion in assets
as of March 31, 2001.

Daily reports, photos and results will be posted to www.swanregattas.com


Results Day 1, 1 race
Big Boat Class
1. Lolita, Frank Savage (USA)
2. Sotta Voce, Alex Van Vemde (NED)
3. Broadsword, John Brim (USA)

Small Boat Class
1. Syrocco, Sam Fortenbaugh (USA)
2. Vixen, John Wayt, (USA)
3. Sazerac, Gordon Ettie (USA)