Stag and Hen 'do' with a difference

Match racing on the activities for Crown Prince Frederik of Denmark writes Anne Hinton

On May 14 this year, Crown Prince Frederik of Denmark will marry Mary Donaldson from Tasmania, Australia. Prince Frederik is a top world ranked Dragon sailor. As part of the “Wonderful Wedding Week” celebrations in Denmark, a match race is to take place on 9th May in Copenhagen.

Jesper Bank, Denmark’s triple Olympic medallist and seven-time world champion, will sail against former America’s Cup winner John Bertrand from Australia. The bridal couple will sail on the boats with the skipper of their own nationality. Bertrand faces tough competition from Bank who has won the Soling fleet/match racing Gold medal at both of the Olympics (Barcelona and Sydney) at which he competed with this format, not to mention the 1999 World Match Racing Championship.

Bertrand (below), famous from his victory with Australia II in 1983 in being the first to take the America’s Cup from the New York Yacht Club, has not competed on the match racing circuit since 1995. Bank, meanwhile, honed his match racing skills as helmsman to the Swedish Victory Challenge in the last Louis Vuitton Cup, and has since competed in two events on the Swedish Match Tour, losing out on third place to Alinghi’s new recruit, Peter Holmberg, by less than a metre at the Swedish Match Cup and subsequently finishing as runner-up to fellow Victory Challenge helmsman, Magnus Holmberg, at the Danish Open.

“It’s effectively Australia versus the Vikings”, said Bertrand, though admitting that “the great Dane, Poul Elvstrøm, will sail with me as tactician.

“It’s a one race, sudden death, sail-off on 9th May in Copenhagen. The cards are stacked against us, but I enjoy long odds!”

Asked what position Mary Donaldson, whom he has not yet met, would take on the crew, Bertrand replied “She’ll be interpreter, from English – or Australian – into Danish and vice versa. That’ll be her key role, but she’s a good Aussie girl, so she’ll be very versatile, I’m sure!”