Olympic sailing ready to start with fast windsurfing, bird-like skiffs under light winds, hot sun

MARSEILLE, France (AP) — There are light winds in the forecast for the beginning of the sailing competition at the 2024 Olympics on Sunday, potentially creating a significant challenge for the sailors in a bay ringed by cliffs and islands that make for ever-changing currents in the air and water.

The first regattas in this Mediterranean port city feature four of the ten Olympic categories; men’s and women’s iQFOiL windsurfing, and the black-sail skiffs known as 49er for men and 49erFX for women.

For all events, points are earned over multiple regattas on multiple days — making sailing a marathon where medals are won by strategy and concentration as much as by physical strength.

But when winds are light, it gets very physical, especially for the windsurfers who need to pump their sails hard to get fast enough for the foil to kick in, making the board fly over the water.

A new windsurf opens possibilities

The foil is the novelty this year for windsurfing — opening the discipline to young athletes since everyone is starting from scratch, said Shahar Zubari, a women’s coach and 2008 bronze medalist for Israel, a country that’s particularly strong in the sport.

Among the most watched athletes in the women’s competition is Israel’s Sharon Kantor, 21.

“I like the speed, the way I’m independent,” Kantor told The Associated Press this week.

With the foil, the speed for windsurfers has about doubled to 35 mph (56 kph).

Windsurfers are required to wear helmets and impact vests, and they will need to keep an eye peeled for objects like logs in the water, said Britain’s Emma Wilson, 25, whose coach picked out pieces of wood from Marseille’s less-than-pristine waters during training earlier this summer.

The daughter of a two-time windsurfing Olympian, Wilson was two seconds behind gold in the Tokyo Games, snagging a bronze, so she has her eye on a higher spot on the podium this year.

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So does Italy’s Nicolò Renna, 23, who grew up windsurfing on Lake Garda next to the Alps. He’s had to adjust to how the sea water’s salinity slows down the foil.

“It’s a force of nature that pushes you, that’s the most beautiful thing,” he said. Once the wind hits right, the foil starts whistling, you can hear the sail move, and otherwise everything is silent, he added.

Wings on the water

It’s exactly the opposite on the 49er and 49erFX boats, where the crew, handling the rudder, and helm, handling the sails, spend most of the regatta hanging off — technically “trapezing” — the bird-like wings of the boat.

Their heads a few inches apart barely above the water, the teams talk all the time to finesse strategy and ensure split-second synchronicity that prevents the boat from going wobbly.

“It doubles the emotions,” said France’s Clément Péquin, 25, who is the reigning world champion in the category together with helm Erwan Fischer, a tremendous feat since a series of injuries kept them off the water for months.

Among their main competitors are the Spanish and Dutch teams. Spain’s Diego Botín, 33, and Florian Trittel, 30, have competed in the Olympics before but are teaming up for the first time in the boat they named Samatha, or “calm” in the Buddhist practice they follow.

The Netherlands’ Bart Lambriex, 25, and Floris van de Werken, 29, also have been aiming for “our heads to be very fresh,” in van de Werken’s words. That’s especially important for a boat that’s light but with a lot of sail, meaning a lot of fast running around to avoid capsizing.

The Netherlands has another great chance at the podium in the women’s 49erFX, where the current world champions are Odile van Aanholt, 26 and Lambriex’s fiancée, and Annette Duetz, 31, who is in her third Games.

“We do everything on feeling or visual,” said Duetz, reacting to how the boat moves to each wave or gust — or lack thereof.

Especially if the wind gets strong, the most formidable competitors will be Sweden’s Vilma Bobeck, 26, and Rebecca Netzler, 29. They grew up with the short and chilly Nordic sailing season, so one big enemy will be Marseille’s heat — forecasted to hit the 90s (mid-30s Celsius) during the regattas.

But whatever comes, they’re ready to rock it in their boat called, inevitably, Dancing Queen.

“When me and Rebecca get it right, it’s so fun. It’s endless fun,” Bobeck said.

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