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The Swan 45 Class makes its debut at Key West with a fleet of nine boats all competing under class rules for the Championship title. Amongst the fleet will be Swan American Regatta overall winner, Craig SPECK and his highly competitive VIM as well a some family rivalry between Leonardo FERRAGAMO'S Curodileone and brother, Massimo FERRAGAMO'S Bellicosa. With a full and varied calendar in 2004 for all Swan 45 owners, the fleet at Key West will be hoping to set the tone for the rest of year, which culminates in the inaugural Swan 45 Gold Cup held in Capri, Italy in October 2004. Hot competition is guaranteed with sailors from America's Cup, Swedish Match Tour and Volvo Ocean Race backgrounds, taking up positions on the crews and all hoping to start the season at the top of the 'leaderboard'.

Nautor's US Agent, Steve BARKER looks forward to the action on the water: "I am so thrilled to see the Swan 45 Class at this year's Terra Nova Trading Key West Regatta - it is great news for both Nautor and the Swan 45 Class itself. 2004 guarantees to be a big year for the Swan 45 and there is no better place to kick off the competition than at our premier sailing event. We have a highly spirited fleet entered that will sail hard everyday guaranteeing some exciting action on the water."

Barker continued: "These boats are so versatile and so quick, giving some great duals on the race course, whilst also maintaining the persona of a true Swan. It is because of this that the Swan 45 has proved to be a huge success in the States, with the Area fleet growing more and more. I look forward to seeing a large contingent of US owned Swan 45's at the first ever Gold Cup later in the year - but there is a lot of racing to do before then!"

The Swan 45 class and model has proved to be a great success story for Nautor, enhancing the performance capabilities of this well-known yacht manufacturer and pushing the boundaries for dual-purpose yachts. Since the launch of the Swan 45 in September 2001, this new generation of Swan has spearheaded the way forward for Nautor's one-design class racing. Due to the enormous success of this model across the world, a bigger project has been put into place with the birth of the Swan 601, fresh with a new one-design class. As with the Swan 45, the design brief remains the same; to create a yacht for one design class racing that at the same time will be competitive under handicap around the world and can, of course, be completely unmistakable as a true Swan. The Swan 601 will be launched in the summer with a small fleet racing at Nautor's flagship event, the Swan Cup in September. With these two high performance models, Nautor has attracted a new level of clients, establishing the company as a pro-active and credible brand on the racing circuit.

Further details are available on the event website at the address below.