Hamilton, Bermuda 11 October 2008: The upsets continue here in Hamilton Harbour as Johnie Berntsson (SWE) and his Berntsson Racing Team and Adam Minoprio (NZL) and the Emirates Team New Zealand/BlackMatch Racing team advance to tomorrow’s Final round at the King Edward VII Gold Cup presented by Argo Group. Berntsson decisively defeated fellow Swede Mattias Rahm and his Stena Bulk Sailing Team on a straight 3-0 score, while Minoprio took it all the way to the fifth match to defeat Ben Ainslie (GBR) and his Team Origin. This is the first World Match Racing Tour final for both teams, where they will vie for the top prize of US$50,000.

“We’re certainly excited to get to our first Tour Finals,” said Minoprio, after having gotten to the Semi’s in two, it feels great to finally have a chance at the top prize. In jest, Minoprio added “And we plan to make all that we can at having got past one of the world’s top sailors!”

Berntsson’s apparent romp over Rahm was in contrast to their intense rivalry, as the two trained together in preparation for this event at their home club in Sweden, the Royal Gothenburg Sailing Club (GKSS), so their matches were indeed tight fights, especially in the pre-starts. Nonetheless, Rahm has had an up and down cycle of success here in Bermuda, winning and losing three matches each day in alternation. “We were always challenged by Mattias, he has a very good team with a lot of experience, but the breaks just went our way today,” said Berntsson.

“Tomorrow is our winning day in the cycle, so we should make it 3-0 [in the Petit-Finals] against Ben,” said Rahm.

Ainslie had been a senior afterguard member and back-up helmsman of Emirates Team New Zealand in the last America’s Cup, and Rahm had been a member of the Swedish Victory Challenge.

Sailing conditions today were nothing less than ideal for match race sailing, with sunny skies and shifty 8-12 knot conditions making for close matches in all flights of both the afternoon Semi-Finals and morning Consolation round for 5th-8th place. Hundreds of water-borne and shore-based spectators lined the course, with many attending as part of the Bermuda Festival of Sail, a public event centered in Barr’s Park adjacent to the Royal Bermuda Yacht Club to celebrate Bermuda’s history of sailing.

Also running concurrent to the Gold Cup is the RBYC’s Junior Gold Cup, sailed in Optimists and attracting 40 entries, with 12 youth champions from outside Bermuda competing here, so all ages and talents are represented this weekend in the Festival of Sail.

In Consolation Round action, reigning World Champion and current World Tour leader Ian Williams (GBR) and his Team Pindar first got past Mathieu Richard and his French Match Racing Team/French Team Spirit in one match, then went on to meet young Keith Swinton (AUS). In his first Tour event, Swinton remarkably not only emerged from the pack of 24 teams here to make the Quarter-Finals, but defeated Tour runner-up Sebastian Col and his French Match Racing Team/K-Challenge today, only to finally fall to Team Pindar to finish 6th overall.

Johnie Berntsson (Sweden): Berntsson Sailing Team Match Racing has competed in an impressive number of events. Some recent highlights include 2nd place in the 2008 Congressional Cup and 1st place in the 2007 GKSS Winter Cup. Other wins include the 2007 GKSS Spring Cup, 2006 WASA Match, 2005 Autumn Cup, 2005 Swedish Match Qualifier and the 2005 Spring Cup. ISAF Ranking: 13 / WMRT Ranking: 13

Adam Minoprio (New Zealand ): Adam Minoprio, age 22 and his team Black Match Racing have achieved 1st place in the following events this year: Sopot Match Cup, Blurimini Match Race Italy and Open Match Race Austria. Other achievements include winning the 2007 Hardy Cup and the 2006 and 2007 Asian Match Race Championships. This will be his first time competing in the Bermuda Gold Cup. ISAF Ranking: 8 / WMRT Ranking: 10

Ben Ainslie (Great Britain): At the age of only 31, Ben is one of Britain’s top sailors. His impressive sailing career began at the age of 8 in Restronguet, Cornwall, UK. By age 16 he was already the Laser Radial World Champion. He won his first Olympic medal at the age of 19, silver in the Laser class at the 1996 Atlanta Games. He has since won 3 more Olympic medals all of which have been gold. In 2002 Ainslie won the Finn World Championships and successfully defended this title for the following two years. In 2005 he made history to become the most successful Finn sailor ever by winning his fourth successive Finn Gold Cup. Ben has won eight World and European Championships in his sailing career to date, been crowned ISAF World Sailor of the Year in 1998 and 2002, and four times won British Yachtsman of the Year. In 2007 the British America’s Cup campaign Team Origin announced Ainslie as skipper for the 33rd America’s Cup challenge in 2009. ISAF Ranking: 114 WMRT Ranking: Unranked

Mattias Rahm (Sweden): Mattias comes to Bermuda to compete for the Gold Cup for the third time. Rahm has scored first place in events including, the 2008 GKSS Match Cup Sweden, 2006 Jeep Challenge, three time winner of the Ice Breaker Cup and two time winner of the Swedish National Match Racing Championship. Mattias was the strategist for Victory Challenge for all of the races in the Louis Vuitton Cup 2007. ISAF ranking 40 / WMRT Ranking: 9