Jamie Gaines co-skipper     Jamie Gaines was born and raised in Portland, Texas and now resides with his wife Tiffany in Houston. He is comfortable with night sailing, having spent many evenings ripping across Corpus Christi Bay in the dark. He has been sailing for over 10 years, having won the Prindle 16 Nationals with his wife Tiffany in 1996 and competed in the Performance Nationals in 2000 with his new Inter 20. They owned a Nacra 6.O and a Hobie 33 (monohull) in between, and have been known to crew J-22's. Gaines specializes in distance racing, with five firsts and two seconds in eight starts in the Ruff Rider. He and Tiffany sailed their Inter 20 to first place among production boats in the 2000 Round The Island race. He holds a 100-ton Master's license, and does yacht surveys and deliveries to support his sailing habit. John Tomko co-skipper     John Tomko lives in San Antonio, Texas. As the grandson and nephew of National One Design dinghy national champions, he has been sailing since the age of 9. John recently competed in the Ruff Rider distance race in South Texas, turning in a top-5 finish out of more than 100 boats. He has won his class five times in seven starts, and won overall honors in 1995. He was top-5 at the Hobie 16 Junior Nationals in both 1993 and '94, Hobie 18 Division 6 Champ in '95, Hobie 20 Div 6 champ in '96, and 7th on the US Tornado team circuit for 1997.  He took 6th place at the Hobie 20 Nationals in California and 7th in the Inter 20 Nationals in Florida.  His ability to make sailing catamarans go fast, although usually practiced in a buoy-race setting, will complement Gaines' distance racing abilities. John Oliveira Third sailor, ace repairman     John hails from San Antonio. He has been sailing since he was a youngster; he just recently closed a sailmaking business after 7 years of operation. He's a crack sailor, and spends many weekends racing all manner of boats, including monohulls, catamarans, and trimarans. He will be with the team for the entire two weeks. Tiffany Gaines Team manager     Tiffany has raced with Jamie most of the last six years. She has numerous distance and round-the-buoy races to her credit, including the 1996 Prindle 16 national title. She is highly respected by everyone that has had the misfortune to race against her, or the fortune to meet her on the beach afterward.. Tiffany works as a nurse. Andrew Tatton Webmaster, pusher, shore crew     I have been sailing for four years. I just broke into the catamaran racing scene in 2000, participating in almost thirty races at eight regattas. I sailed a Nacra 5.O singlehanded most of the time, and I think I have been recognized for persistence (or is that "terminal idiocy"?) more often than for my actual numerical finishing positions. I upgraded for the 2001 season to Nacra 5.5u that will take some getting used to. I was trained by the UT Sailing Club in Austin where I spent a year as Chief Maintenance Officer and later served as Commodore. I sail and race both monohulls and catamarans.

The Team