Illbrück want to win the next America's Cup

by illbruck media on 11 Jun 2002 The victorious voyage that had lasted almost nine months was barely over and the winner's toughest rivals had not yet reached dry land when Michael Illbruck was already hatching new plans.

'Kiel is great, Kiel is fantastic. Next year we will launch our boat for the America's Cup here and set up base
in Kiel,' he said in reference to the northern German port city. The head of the German syndicate whose boat
illbruck Challenge on Sunday won the prestigious nine-stage Volvo Ocean Race stood happily on board his
green-and-white yacht, which was berthed at the port's Blücher Bridge.

Illbruck was surrounded by his triumphant crew, while a stone's throw away tens of thousands of fans
crushed together, hoping to soak up some of the sailors' elation at having finished a long but rewarding
journey.

On Monday morning, following a night of revelry that cannot have made waking up the next day particularly
easy, the house of Illbruck announced part two of its vision for the future. The new message was much more
spectacular than the intentions expressed the previous day: 'We want to win the America's Cup. Germany
has a valid claim on the America's Cup,' said the entrepreneur, sounding as though he meant it.

Illbruck has tasted success and he intends to put his pithily expressed plans into action in the near future.
In Kiel, Illbruck presented star sailor Peter Erzberger as the latest addition to his team. Because the work
on dry land and especially the quest for funding will now require particular effort, the Swiss sailor's main task
will be to help him market the project for 2006.

Illbruck has calculated a budget of no less than euro 90 million ($85 million) for his next big goal, and the
first part of this sum 'must be secured by 2003' from sponsors, he said.

'My company won't be financing everything anymore. Someone else has to step in now,' he said. Illbruck
expects the first-ever victory by a German yacht in the Volvo Ocean Race, as well as the unexpectedly high
level of public interest in Germany, to generate the kind of support that will enable his syndicate to
participate in sailing's most prestigious event, having been prevented from doing so this year by a lack of
funds.

Partnerships are essential to this kind of endeavor, and one partner -- though it is not a financial sponsor --
has already been found. 'We want to advance side by side,' Dierk Thomsen, the president of the German
Sailing Federation said. He expects the grassroots members of the federation, in other words Germany's
many amateur sailors, to support Illbruck's ambitious project -- in the non-financial sense, of course. The
racing team from Leverkusen, which up to now has sailed under the flag of the Düsseldorf Yacht Club, has
already earned kudos with German sailing fans.

By winning four stages of the high seas marathon, the illbruck Challenge completely dominated the race -- a
feat that has earned the syndicate considerable respect beyond Germany's borders, too. The team's closest
pursuer at the Volvo Ocean Race, the Swedish yacht Assa Abloy, was well beaten over the last stretch from
Gothenburg in Sweden to Kiel, arriving home two hours behind Norway's djuice and, of course, the illbruck
Challenge.

'I know, we had a magnificent race. We'll have worried quite a few people in the sailing world,' skipper John
Kostecki said. The American, a multi-talented sailor who has won numerous awards in his sport and who had
a major say in the Volvo campaign, was reluctant to either confirm or deny the likelihood of a continued
collaboration with Illbruck.

'Michael and I have become friends, so anything is possible,' Kostecki said. So the future is wide open.
Negotiations centering on money and expectations will be held, he said.

Illbruck, who -- in accordance with a tradition cherished among sailors -- will now rename his illbruck
Challenge the Pinta Challenge, wants to keep the core of the crew unchanged. 'I'm mega-proud of the
boys,' he said. And anyway, now they have a new goal. 'Winning the America's Cup with Illbruck would fulfill
my biggest dream,' said the Munich entrepreneur.