Match race demon

James Boyd spoke to Magnus Holmberg last year's Swedish Match Tour champion now helmsman for Victory Challenge

There was a slight scandal earlier this year when a Swedish court sentenced Johanssen to eight months imprisonment for 'gross tax evasion' dating back to 1994. Holmberg says that this will have no effect on their campaign and their Project Manager is not about to be locked up. "I think that is a bit of an exaggeration. It is an old thing that goes way back and it is only the first stage of the whole thing. I don't know that much about it. But he's going to appeal and that will drag out until after the Cup. He's still got the back up from the leadership."

The team includes some interesting individuals. Former djuice dragons bowman Jonas Wackenhuth, is back at the pointy end with fellow Volvo teammate Billy Merrington. Ludde Indvall's long term no.2 Ola Astradsson is pitman/floater. Former Team New Zealander and EF crewman Paul Murray is a trimmer, while other young former Kiwis in the team include Conan Hunt, Nathan Hislop and Mathew Hughes.

Among the Scandinavians are Henrik Blakskjaer and Thomas Jacobsen who were on Jesper Bank's winning Soling team in Sydney and experienced match racer Lars Linger. The majority of the rest are dinghy sailors. It could hardly be said the team is bristling with the heavyweight talent to be found on some of the A-division challenges. "We have a lot of young guys who have developed tremendously since we started," counters Holmberg. "We don't have any experience of the America's Cup boats from before but everyone's been working really hard and a lot of guys have surprised me over the level they've come up to. And that's been really nice, because when the project started three years ago there was a lot of skepticism at that stage, but I think we have come a very long way since then."

Tomorrow on madforsailing Magnus Holmberg gives his views on the Swedish Match Tour

Victory Challenge's base at the Viaduct Basin