SAILING, Tornado Worlds, Martha's Vineyard Massachusetts

Amsterdam, 19 September 2002

Booth / Dercksen aiming at gold at Tornado Worlds

EDS Sailing Team with Mitch Booth and Herbert Dercksen from the Netherlands is aiming at gold at the Exact Software 2002 Tornado World Championships. As off Monday 23 until Saturday 28 September 2002, all best Tornado sailors of the world will meet each other at Martha's Vineyard seven miles off the coast of Cape Cod. The Exact Software 2002 Tornado World Championship is the first Tornado Qualifiying Event for the 2004 Olympic Games, as countries must now compete to win a limited number of slots to the Olympic Regatta. The top five of the final results qualifies its country.

In order to prepare itself for the Tornado Worlds, EDS Sailing Team practiced off the coast of Massachusetts during the last two weeks. Herbert: "Gold is our mission! The competition is strong, so we leave nothing to chance. We used the last two weeks to optimize the equipment, for training and to concentrate completely on the event. After silver at the Europeans, we are very eager to win gold at the Worlds."

The most important rivals of the EDS Sailing Team are the present World Champions Bundock/Forbes from Australia and the silver medallists Hagara/Steinacher from Austria. Hagara won gold in Sydney where Bundock won silver. Together with Booth, Forbes won silver in Atlanta. In other words, these teams know each other very well and they have competed for Olympic gold for many years. In addition, the present European Champions Backes/Voiron from France have to be considered as strong competitors as well.
Fifty-five teams from twenty countries and five continents have subscribed for the Exact Software 2002 Tornado World Championships so far. The first race will start on Monday 23 September 2002 and the last race will be sailed on Saturday 28 September. Thursday 26 September is a reserve day. The championship exists of ten races.