None of these factors seem to faze the Swedish skipper, however, as he is confident at landing a new sponsor, has a trusted substitute for Rahm, who is currently recuperating from knee surgery, and knows from past successes that it won’t be long before he resumes his place at or near the top of the Swedish Match Tour Rankings.

“Stefan is not fit to sail until middle of May, so at the Congressional Cup our tactician will be Johan Barne, navigator for the Victory Challenge, who I used to have on the match racing team a few years back,” said Holmberg. “Lars Linger, Magnus Augustsson, Oskar Ljung, Henrik Walderyd will fill out the rest of the crew. Henrik was maintrimmer and Oskar was spinnaker trimmer in the Victory Challenge and they are younger guys who have really grown into professional sailors through the Cup campaign.”

Having accomplished essentially everything possible on the Swedish Match Tour, why return and commit to the time and travel necessary to be successful on the world’s premier professional sailing series? “The good thing about the Swedish Match Tour is that you have to step-up your decision making. You have to be a lot quicker in your thinking and your decision making which is good,” states Holmberg.

`It is also important to stay in touch with the tactics and the rules and things like that and it is important for the sailors to get some racing in to get the excitement and noise of a racing situation. With an America's Cup challenge you can be training for a couple of years and you never really get into any racing situations. “

As the most accomplished competitor in the three-year history of the Swedish Match Tour, Holmberg also has reasonable expectations for a quick return to glory.

With the Swedish Match Tour launching in the wake of America’s Cup 2000, Holmberg and his Swedish crew were the most committed and dedicated crew, appearing in the first seventeen events. Overall, Holmberg has contested 19 of 23 Swedish Match Tour events, the most of any skipper, making his absence at several Swedish Match Tour events last year, as the Victory Challenge made final preparations for the Louis Vuitton Cup, all the more conspicuous.

Holmberg has done more than just “show up” at Swedish Match Tour events. He is tied with Team New Zealand’s Dean Barker for the most Swedish Match Tour event wins, with four apiece, and was the Swedish Match Tour 2000/2001 Champion following a third place final ranking on the inaugural Swedish Match Tour and, most recently, finishing as runner-up on Swedish Match Tour 2001/2002 to Oracle BMW Racing’s Peter Holmberg. Holmberg’s success on the Swedish Match Tour has awarded him US$120,000 in Swedish Match Tour prize money as well as a significant amount of prize money from each of the events.

The success, and financial benefits that accompany it, are well deserved for the man responsible for introducing Swedish Match to the word of international sailing. It is well documented how Holmberg first got Swedish Match involved with the very successful Swedish Match Cup in Marstrand, which is now the ninth and final event on the Swedish Match Tour, and then helped coordinate the launch of the Swedish Match Tour between Swedish Match, Octagon and The Match Racing Association.

Holmberg, after a short holiday, has been busy spending time with his family, fulfilling obligations as head of the Victory Challenge and preparing for his return to the Swedish Match Tour. “I have spent some time with my family who had not seen that much of me during the Cup campaign,” said Holmberg. “I have also been commentating the America's Cup for Swedish TV3, done a few corporate speeches and been working a bit on finding a sponsor for the match racing team.”

Holmberg is energized that the America’s Cup is coming to Europe for the first time and envisions another evolution in sport’s oldest ongoing competition.

“I think it is great (the Cup moving to Europe). I am sure that the interest from the general public and the media will increase tremendously and for the sponsors we will now be in a continent where they have important markets,” states Holmberg. “And other aspect is that so far no one has ever taken the event to it's full commercial values and I hope that Alingi will be able to do that through the independent body they are setting up.”

“The America's Cup has always been syndicate driven, where the syndicates have been fighting over details rather then trying to cooperate to boost the event. Hopefully Alingi will change that for the future,” concluded Holmberg.

With Holmberg now rested from his first America’s Cup experience and re-committed to the Swedish Match Tour, it won’t be long before he and his crew reclaim their place among the elite competitors on the Swedish Match Tour.

For all the latest news from the Swedish Match Tour’s visit www.swedishmatchtour.com.

Source: Shawn Mc Bride