On Tuesday March 22 2005, Team Zwitserleven of Booth/Dercksen from the Netherlands could not easily get going during the first racing day of the Princess Sofia Cup. Due to lack of wind at the coastside of Palma de Mallorca, the participants had to stay ashore yesterday. As a result, four races were scheduled for today. The only Dutch representatives went from a seventeenth place in the openings race to victory in the last one. That gives Mitch Booth and Herbert Dercksen a sixth position on the provisional overall ranking in a fleet of 33 Tornado’s.
The Sofia Cup is Team Zwitserleven’s first olympic regatta since the Athens Games in 2004, where Booth/Dercksen ended in fifth place. Today, they were not in their element yet. Dercksen: “At the beginning it was hard to do it right. We had troubles to speed up the boat. Not only because of the new mast and sails, but also because we did not have enough practice. I really had to find everything again.” During the first two races, there was a light wind of about eight knots. Booth and Dercksen crossed the finish line in respectively seventeenth and fourteenth position. Subsequently the wind increased to fourteen knots and the Dutch crew could add a sixth place and a victory to their total score. Dercksen: “It is good to know that we are still competitive. Now, we need more training and less weight.” The French Yann/Guyader are in the lead after four races, followed by Echavarri Erasun/Paz Blanco from Spain and the Australians Bundock/Worrall.
About Princess Sofia Cup 2005
From Monday 21 until Friday March 25 2005, the Trofea Princessa Sofia Cup will be sailed outside the coast of Palma de Mallorca. All olympic sailing disciplines are present, except for the Star and Neil Pryde RS:X. Thirty-three teams representing twelve countries will compete in the Tornado class. The winners of last year’s edition and of olympic silver in Athens, the Americans John Lovell and Charlie Ogletree, did not travel to Spain to defend their Cup. Twelve races are planned.