PRESS RELEASE November 1, 2007 American Skipper Rich Wilson Prepares for start of Transat Jacque Vabre Race First of Series for Wilson's Great American III Contact: Dianna Fletcher, + 1 207 831-8148 (For Immediate Release) October 30, 2007, La Havre, France: Massachusetts resident Rich Wilson is in La Havre France, preparing Great American III (GAIII) for the November 3 start of the Transat Jacques Vabre. Wilson’s co-skipper is the much-revered, Canadian sailor Mike Birch, winner of the first Route du Rhum, solo transatlantic race in 1978 and dubbed "cowboy of the sea", This marathon skipper has an extensive open ocean racing resume. Birch helmed the maxi catamaran Formule Tag in the 1980s and continues to be a regular competitor in the world’s great ocean races. The Transat Jaques Vabre is a double-handed race spanning more than 4,335 miles, from La Havre France to Salvador de Bahia. Five classes of boats sail the course beginning this weekend: Rich Wilson’s Great American III is in Open 60 group. The Transat Jacques Vabre is a single course for all the fleets, spanning the sea from Le Havre, France's leading coffee importing port to Salvador de Bahia, in Brazil, the world's leading coffee grower and exporter. Skippers face two opposing weather systems for the two different hemispheres, overcoming the Channel and the crossing of the Bay of Biscay. The race will take approximately 20 days. The Transat Jacques Vabre is the first of three races Wilson will sail prior to the 2008-09 Vendee Globe, a single-handed, round the world race considered the "Everest of Yacht Racing". The GAIII is the only boat registered by an American in the 2008 Vendee Globe. The Great American III (formerly Solidaires) under went a complete re-fit in Portland, Maine at the Maine Yacht Center. Wilson sailed GAIII to La Havre, France this month with co-skipper Mike Birch. The Transat Jacque Vabre is the first race for Wilson as skipper of the GAIII. Wilson, of Marblehead, Massachusetts, is an educator and a sailor. Wilson has three world-record setting voyages to his credit including a voyage from San Francisco to Boston by way of Cape Horn in 1994. The Massachusetts native also founded the Sites Alive Foundation, a non-profit platform for his ongoing educational program Ocean Challenge, a series of educational programs for students worldwide. In 2005, Wilson’s ocean voyages and contributions to education earned him one of sailing’s highest honors, the Cruising Club of America’s (CCA) prestigious Blue Water Medal. Find out more about the Great American III, go to www.greatamerican3.com And for more information on Rich Wilson and the sitesALIVE Foundation go to www.sitesalive.com Find out more about the Transat Jacques Vabre at www.jacques-vabre.com/en