Team SEB strengthens crew with double Olympic Champion

by SEB Press Release on 11 Apr 2002 American Mark Reynolds has in his career won two Olympic gold medals, one Olympic silver and has twice won the World Championships in Star boat. Now he strengthens SEB in the Volvo Ocean Race for the first sprint leg between Miami and Baltimore.

On Sunday the sixth leg of the Volvo Ocean Race starts in Miami Florida. This leg is the first sprint leg in the race and is only 875 miles up along the east American coast. Close racing and tactics will be crucial in the three days short leg that is worth the same amount of points as the longer earlier legs.

'We are glad to have Mark Reynolds with us in Team SEB. With his experience from Star boat racing and his touch as a helmsman, refined over many years, he will contribute a lot on the tactical side. I am sure it will be a close race all the way and anything can happen until the very last meters before the finish in Chesapeake Bay,' says skipper Gurra Krantz.

Mark Reynolds, 46 years old from San Diego, has competed in four Olympic Games in the Star boat class. At the 1988 Games in Korea he took the silver medal together with Hal Haenel and they came back four years later in the Barcelona Games and became Olympic Champions. After a sixth place in the 1996 Atlanta Olympics he teamed up with ex-Swede Magnus Liljedahl and came back to Sydney in 2000 to win the gold again.

In 1995 and 2000 Reynolds won the World Champion title and previously this year he won the Bacardi Cup in Miami together with Liljedahl. In big boat racing Reynolds has been tactician onboard Farr 40-boats and last year he won the US Admiral's Cup trials.

'I am looking forward to race with Team SEB on a V.O.60 and see what I can contribute with. I am sure it will be a tight race. I have been following the race closely so far and I am excited to now be part of it,' says Reynolds.

Scott Beavis that has sailed the first five legs on SEB has left the team.

The sixth leg starts on Sunday the 14th of April in Miami at 18:00 GMT (13.00 local time) and the fleet is estimated to arrive in Baltimore on Wednesday the 17th of April.

--------------------------------------
For more Team SEB information, interviews and Miami pictures:
Fredrik Trahn, Press Officer, ph +46-70-913 67 96. Press phone in Miami, +46-733-91 98 35.
Oskar Kihlborg, Film and Photo, ph +46-70-322 5000.
Katarina Regårdh, SEB, ph +46-70-763 93 26
www.teamseb.com.
http://image.teamseb.com