Sailing Magazine
pic by Pedro Martínez/TROFEO SOFIA
by Richard Crockett
Our Olympic pairing of Asenathi Jim and Roger Hudson are competing in the Trofeo Princesa Sofia regatta in Palma in a tough fleet of close to 80 boats. This event is the last chance for European countries to qualify for the final Olympic spot – so competition is tough and relentless.
Our guys started off well with 4 races in single figures, but hit a bad day yesterday with two not-so-good races which saw them drop out of the top 10.
But our two Olympians have the mental strength to put that aside and stage a comeback as their goal will be to qualify for the medal race – so a top 10 finish is imperative. They have had a tendency to start well and finish badly in some recent events, so one hopes that they will reverse this trend.
What I personally find interesting is that they are sailing their three year-old boat in this event, not their brand new one which is on its way to Rio, yet it does not appear to have made too much difference to them yet in terms of their results so far. Theirs is likely to be the oldest boat in the fleet by some distance as all the top teams will be sailing boats newer than a year old. And, most importantly, neither Jim nor Hudson will use the boat as an excuse for any performance issues.
Their results to date:
16th overall. 6; 2; 9; 3; 36; 26
