Dutch, Aussies at loggerheads over designer Code Zero boat

A string of typhoons off the China coast gave Qingdao a wide berth in the run-up to the Beijing Games but there was one storm the sailors couldn’t avoid.

Just a fortnight from the opening of the Games, Pim Nieuwenhuis and Australian-born Mitch Booth, the Dutch gold medal contenders in the aptly-named Tornado class, unveiled their secret weapon: a revolutionary new spinnaker, called a Code Zero, designed to harness whatever little breeze Qingdao has to offer while sailing upwind.