Los Angeles CA (May 28, 1999) -- Iridium North America, in conjunction with its parent Iridium LLC, has come aboard as primary sponsor of the 40th Transpacific Yacht Race.

On Nov. 1, 1998 Iridium became the world's first global telephone and paging company. Through a constellation of 66 low-earth-orbit satellites circling the globe, customers can make or take calls and receive pages in the most remote regions on Earth.

"Over the Pacific Ocean, crew members are isolated from traditional communications," said Carol Ann Gorden, Vice President of marketing for Iridium North America. "The Iridium System and equipment are designed for this type of rugged environment and will be a tremendous help with safety, security and reporting for the crew members."

The Transpac joins a group of other sports and adventure endeavors sponsored by Iridium, which are natural partners for technology designed to communicate from remote parts of the world. Roy Disney's new maxi sled Pyewacket and a few other boats will carry Iridium equipment in this summer's race from Los Angeles to Honolulu.

Iridium North America is the sole owner and operator for Iridium services in North America. Iridium North America is actively selling services through integrating wireless service providers and distribution partners to provide customers the ability for unique service that permits any type of telephone transmission - voice, paging, data and fax to reach its destination virtually anywhere on Earth.

Iridium North America is headquartered in Tempe, Ariz., and will service the United States, Bermuda, Guam and Puerto Rico. Iridium North America is backed by telecommunications leaders Motorola, Inc., Sprint Corporation and Iridium Canada, Inc.

Additional information regarding the Iridium system is available at the website or by calling 1-888-Iridium.

Ex-Cheval, 2 multihulls enter
A former Barn Door winner with a new name, two Cruising class additions and the first two multihulls are among recent entries pushing the total to 33. Four earlier entries have withdrawn.

Philippe Kahn of Santa Cruz bought the Andrews 70 turbo sled Cheval from Hal Ward, who was first to finish in 1995 despite losing most of his mast off Moloka`i. Kahn has renamed it Pegasus and will join Pyewacket, the Bob McNeil/Bob Parish Zephyrus IV and Doug Baker's Magnitude in Division I.

Also entering were Bob Hanel's catamaran Double Bullet II from Cabrillo Beach YC and Clive Armitage's 60-foot trimaran, Pacific Challenge, from Eugene, Ore. The latter had a reputation for records when it was called Sebago under prior ownership.

The Cruising class, introduced in the 1997 race, grew to eight boats with the addition of John Robert Misko's Swan 36 from Seattle and Howard Raphael's Beneteau 40 from Palo Alto.

Dan Doyle of Waikiki YC has returned in the Doublehanded division with Two Guys On the Edge, a Sonoma 30 which was disabled early in the '97 race.

Entry forms are available by writing to entry chairman Dan Nowlan at 4224 Point Loma Ave., San Diego, CA 92107. Nowlan also may be contacted by phone or fax at (619) 224-0198 or by e-mail .

More Transpac information, including past results and press releases, is available on the race website http://www.transpacificyc.org/.

Publicity:
Rich Roberts
1258 Lakme Ave.
Wilmington, CA 90744
Phone: (310) 835-2526
Fax: (310) 513-1664
E-mail:

Elapsed Time Records

Monohull: Pyewacket, Roy Disney, Los Angeles YC, 1997 7days 15 hrs 24 min 40 sec.
Multihull: Explorer, Bruno Peyron, YC La Baule, 1997 -- 5days 9 hrs 18 min 26 sec.
Cruising Class: Salsipuedes, Fred Frye, San Diego YC, 1997 12days 6 hrs 57 min 57 sec.

Transpac 99
Entries as of May 28, 1999