Time is running out for Australia II

by WA Sailing Assoc. on 10 Mar 2001 With the first victorious America's Cup challenger Australia 11 now returned safely to its home in the West, a new question is now on the
lips of every Aussie sailing fan:

'Will the world’s best known and most admired 12 Metre Class yacht make it to Cowes to compete in the America’s Cup Jubilee
Regatta?'

The Jubilee Regatta, to be conducted by England’s Royal Yacht Squadron in co-operation with the New York Yacht Club in August
promises to be the most spectacular yachting regatta ever held.

Australia II's Syndicate head, Warren Jones, is keeping his hopes high that the yacht that transfixed a nation and stunned the world of
yachting in 1983 will once again race for her country.

With a very tight deadline to raise $AUD750, 000 (UK£270,000, US$400,000) by mid-April, her original (1983) crew and support team
are working flat-out to try to turn the dream into reality.

An Australian icon that has spent the past 12 years on display in Sydney’s National Maritime Museum, Australia 11 needs a mast, new
sails and new rigging to ensure she can sail competitively.

According to Warren Jones, Chairman of Australia 11 Jubilee Challenge 2001 Inc., what is really needed is a major sponsor or
benefactor who realises that it would be an international sporting tragedy to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the America’s Cup
without the first yacht to break the USA’s 132 year hold on the Cup.

“It’s widely understood that the two key participants for this important anniversary Regatta are America (the first winner of the America’s
Cup in 1851, of which a replica is entered) and the original Australia 11,” Warren Jones said.

“The victory of the Ben Lexcen-designed winged-keel Australian yacht over Dennis Conner’s Liberty in 1983 had an enormous impact on
the sport of yachting,” said Jones.

“It had, perhaps, an even greater impact on the Australian nation,” he said. “The Cup win bonded Australians in a way that no other
sporting event ever had, or has since.

“To this day, Australians remember exactly where they were and what they were doing when Australia 11 won the deciding race of the
1983 America’s Cup in Newport, Rhode Island. They tell you about it and they tell you how proud it made them to be an Australian.

“In those days, we had a benefactor who made it all possible. Today we don’t and we need all the help we can muster to get Australia 11
into the water again and off to Cowes.

“Most of the original crew and the support team have volunteered their time and skills to raise funds and pay their own way to Cowes, but
we still need major funds to get the boat ready,” he said.

The founding members of Australia 11 Jubilee Challenge 2001 Inc. are Warren Jones (Chairman), John Longley, Skip Lissiman, Ron
Packer, Rob Pearce and Vern Reid. Veteran America’s Cup skipper, Sir James Hardy, is the association’s Patron.

The most important event at Cowes will be the re-enactment of the 1851 race for the trophy which became world famous as the America’s
Cup. It will be sailed over the original course around the Isle of Wight on Tuesday, 21 August 2001.

It’s anticipated that up to 200 large yachts will participate in the Regatta and in the re-enactment race, which will attract media attention
world-wide.

Jones’ team has already overcome the initial hurdles in getting the white yacht with the boxing kangaroo emblem closer to the water.

Last year, the Australian Federal Government agreed to return her to the people of Western Australia, where she will go on display in the
new, multi-million dollar Western Australian Maritime Museum (WAMM), due for completion in 2002.

Australia 11 returned to her home port in December and starred in a spectacular Welcome Home parade through the streets of Fremantle
on the Australia Day long weekend in January.

After the parade, it was announced that agreement finally had been reached between Australia 11 Jubilee Challenge 2001
Inc.(C2001) and the WAMM to allow C2001 to race the yacht in Cowes Week and the America’s Cup Jubilee Regatta, which will
include the International 12 Metre Class World Championship.

“Importantly,” said Jones, “the Regatta rules allow us to take three additional crew and these positions can be offered to the syndicate’s
major sponsor.”

“We feel sure that out there somewhere is an individual, a company or an organisation that will see the opportunity for major international
exposure or for the extraordinary thrill of being part of the Jubilee events – including the race around the Isle of Wight - and sailing in the
most amazing 12 Metre in the world.”