Mitch Booth - a madforsailing interview

A change of nation and a change of boat, all in search of Olympic Gold

In his year away from the Tornado, Booth has been off doing some big-boat sailing. Not just any big-boat sailing mind you; Booth went the whole way with a period on Grant Dalton's maxi-cat Club Med. Though totally enthusiastic about the maxi-multihulls he is quite open about his lack of desire to go offshore for long periods of time. "I was with the team for a few months and went across the Atlantic. I tried to go across the Atlantic another time and broke the bow off. I have to say that in terms of the endurance events, the long distance endurance stuff is not what I specialise in and because I don't do it well it's not something I enjoy so much". He is however keen to get back to these monster boats for some shorter record attempts. "The boats themselves are very exciting. I just jump at any opportunity to have a go on one again. Even across the Atlantic would be great but two months onboard is not my cup of tea".

Perhaps more interestingly he will be sailing aboard Giovani Soldini's 60 footer Fila on the ORMA trimaran circuit later this year. Among the crew will be long-time Tornado rival Roland Gaebler which should make for an interesting crew dynamic. So how, I ask, can he reconcile his commitment to more big boat sailing with the desire to win Olympic Gold? He has a disarmingly simple answer. "That’s what I do for a living," he says. "I go sailing. If you just went Tornado sailing every day of the week you would get so bored and frankly it would not be very productive. You have to have bursts of training and bursts of competition. Then instead of going to an office and filling in all the gaps I go and sail on other boats."

Despite all this, I sense still sense his primary goal is that elusive gold medal. After six previous attempts, I for one would not want to bet against him.