Booth and Dercksen split

End of the road for Dutch Olympic Tornado team

Due to personal reasons Mitch Booth has stopped sailing with Herbert Dercksen as of today. This means that their Olympic campaign towards Bejing is terminated.

The Olympic Tornado team Mitch Booth and Herbert Dercksen, who have been sailing together intensly for about 10 years, have enjoyed a lot of successes over the years. This includes winning a number of World and European titles in the Tornado class and Formula 18, next to representing Holland in the 2004 Olympics.

Off the water Mitch and Herbert were the driving forces behind the upgraded Olympic Tornado class rig which added a second trapeze and spinnaker in 2000. More recently they created the Volvo Extreme 40 boat and class. Five of these exciting new catamarans raced as a pre-programme in the Volvo Ocean Race 2005-2006.

The saling activities of Booth and Dercksen were organised through their company TornadoSport. This company shall continue all current activities under the leadership of Herbert Dercksen. Daan Koene will be co-responsible for the Volvo Extreme 40 activities from now on. Koene will also stay responsible for all operations and logistics as before.

The pairs' non-attendance at the current on-going Tornado Europeans raised eyebrows, especially when Booth and son Taylor turned up in Spain this week for the Hobie Tiger worlds.