| KEY BISCAYNE, FL. USA-(6-3-2003) It was a European victory today in the fourth race of the Barcadi Cup regatta with Germany's Marc Pickel and Tony Kolb taking first, Fredrik Loof and Andes Ekstrom (SWE) in second, and 2002 World Champion Iain Percy and Steve Mitchell (GBR) in third. The Americans won only three places in the top 10 finishes. Augie Diaz and crew Mark Strube of Miami, placed fourth, moving them into fifth overall. `But there's a lot of racing left,` Diaz pointed out. Rick Merrimam and Bill Bennett of San Diego,CA took seventh, and Bill Hardesty and Will Stout of San Diego, CA took 10th place. `Today we had a real good start and we kept the pressure on the top guys and got lucky on the downwind,` said Marc Pickel who ran the BACARDI CUP last year with a sixth place finish. `The challenge in this regatta is to stay consistent. We'd be happy with a top 10 finish as this is our first BACARDI CUP,` he said. According to crew Steve Mitchell, ` It was hard on the brain and not so hard on the legs today. The wind was moving around a lot, but we got some of it,` he said. The British team moves up one place to second overall with 2001 BACARDI CUP champion Peter Bromby and Martin Siese of Bermuda holding on to first place overall with a fourth place finish in today's race. Many competitors agreed that this regatta is second only to the world championships. The record fleet of 112 boats has among it more than 10 world champions and as Phillipe Presti of France pointed out, `So many boats, so many good sailors and a great level of talent.` Pickel called it the `best regatta in the world.`
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