Admirals Cup 2001 British aim for clean sweep in IC 45 series

by Sue Warden-Owen on 8 Mar 2001 Barlo Plastics IC 45, skippered by Adrian Stead and helmed by Olympic Gold
Medalist Ben Ainslie, will be competing for overall Series victory in the
Clean Marine IC 45 Winter Series 2001, this weekend. The third and final
regatta of the Series is organized by the Club de Regatas Puerto Portals and
will be sailed on the waters of the Bay of Palma de Mallorca, 9th - 11th
March 2001.

Barlo Plastics currently leads the overall event with two regatta wins and
30 pts, whilst fellow UK competitor, Babbalaas, has 28 pts. Commenting on
the forthcoming regatta, skipper Stead said, 'This will be a fantastic
finale to the Series, which has proved to be a great opener to the season.
We can win if we are better than fourth and Babbalaas worse than first.'
Babbalaas, skippered by Silver Olympic Medallist Ian Barker, can take Series
victory only if they claim a first this weekend, with Barlo Plastics in
fourth.

Barlo Plastics IC 45, the big boat selected for the Barlo Plastics British
Admiral's Cup Team 2001, made a spectacular start to the training season
when Ian Walker successfully guest-helmed Barlo Plastics to their first
regatta win of the Series (26th - 28th January). In a break from his
training schedule with the America's Cup syndicate OneWorld, Ben Ainslie
steered Barlo Plastics in the second regatta (16th - 18th February) to his
first win in the IC 45 class.

'The last regatta in Palma saw some exceptionally close racing, so it was
good to come away with such an impressive result, especially as it was my
first introduction to the class. The crew work and boat handling was
flawless and I am looking forward to helming Barlo Plastics again this
weekend, ' said Ben Ainslie.

Racing is set to commence on Friday 9th March at 12:00 and complete race
results will be available on www.ic45od.org