An infusion of $140,000 from the Brazilian soccer team Vasco de Gama has turned near-bankruptcy around for a schooner project on the shores of the Amazon. For five years 31-year-old Markus Lehmann, three Dutch partners, and 16 local workers have toiled on the 120-foot gaff-rigged schooner the Tocorime Pamatojari, or Spirit of Adventure, in hopes to participate in the April tall-ship regatta retracing the route of Portuguese explorer Pedro Cabral 500 years ago. Work on the Tocorime Pamatojari stalled just before Christmas when local officials reportedly got upset that a group of five foreigners were in charge of the regatta?s lone Brazilian-built entry. Lehmann and his team, who were featured in a front-page story in the Feb. 18th ,The Wall Street Journal, almost had to cancel the project after a Brazilian state government seized their boat and froze their bank account. Lehmann?s "almost completely broke" team is now able to do the necessary engine and electrical work. After the regatta, the team plans to leave for Sydney, Australia, arriving in time for the September start of the 2000 Summer Olympic Games.