Andy Rice In its 122-year history, the Olympic sailing scene has never witnessed so much change and with the clock already counting down to 2024, the competition is full on
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lthough it’s already eight months since the Tokyo 2020 Games, the start of the new Olympic cycle really only got going in early April at the Trofeo Princesa Sofía Mallorca. The Bay of Palma hosted all 10 event Olympic events, four of which are brand new. The Men’s and Women’s divisions in the iQFOiL windsurfers and the Formula Kite foiling kiteboards were flying across the Bay of Palma at speeds of 30 knots and beyond - speeds never seen before in Olympic competition. The debate among traditionalists will continue to rage as to whether these foilers constitute ‘proper sailing’. For pretty much everyone I spoke to on the circuit, the foilers are a welcome addition to the line-up of dinghies and skiffs. Along the with the foiling Nacra 17 catamaran, the four new foiling classes mean that half of the 10 events are now flying above the surface. The 49er skiff - so radical when it launched 25 years ago - is now looking quite conventional. Do faster events necessarily mean that they’ll be more exciting for spectators to enjoy? Not necessarily, but that’s certainly the intention. Olympic sport is increasingly under commercial pressure to provide a made-for-TV product if it’s to compete with the likes of the X Games and the Red Bull sponsored extreme events and adventure sports. The kitefoilers were launching directly off the sandy beach and the spectacle of the riders launching and getting up on their foils through the breaking waves drew quite a crowd of tourists and passers-by. They are spectacular yet very simple machines - a 1.5 metre board mounted on top of a fixed hydrofoil setup with aerodynamic, wing-shaped kites ranging in size from 9 metres for strong winds up to 23 metres for conditions below 10 knots. There’s no getting away from the fact that high-speed foiling can be dangerous, but the riders and the sailors accept the risks and genuinely love what they do; British kitefoiler Lily Young says she and the rest of the British squad often stay out on the water and do much longer hours than their training plan requires. The kiteboarders and the iQFOilers come across as the most passionate about what they do, although there is a real sense of excitement throughout the Olympic boat park. There is major change in every class, with the exception of the Laser where the only notable update is to the new name of ILCA 7 (for the old Standard rig) or the ILCA 6 (for the old Radial). Terrible name
for a classic boat that deserves better, although the racing itself is as hard-fought as ever. It was a really impressive performance by British sailor Micky Beckett to win ahead of the likes of reigning Olympic Champion Matt Wearn from Australia and many past world champions. The switch to Mixed 470, men and women sailing together, has brought a very different feel to the boat park. Following Hannah Mills’ retirement from Olympic campaigning, the gold medal winning crew from Tokyo 2020, Eilidh McIntyre is now the senior partner in her new campaign with Martin Wrigley steering the boat. As Eilidh said: “The 470 is the perfect boat for testing men and women equally in the same boat and maybe even for women to prove they can do the job better than the men.” Tenth place for Martin and Eilidh shows they’re a work in progress, coming a place behind fellow Brits Vita Heathcote and Ryan Orr. Dominating the new Mixed line-up were the Spanish team of Jordi Xammar and Nora Brugman. Xammar was one of several who flew back from the SailGP finale in San Francisco to race in Palma, and the experience making quick-fire decisions at 50 knots seems to help the Olympic bronze medallist in the much slower but very tactical 470. Fresh from victory in Season 2 of SailGP was Jason Waterhouse, flight controller for Tom Slingsby’s winning team from Australia. Sailing with his cousin Lisa Darmanin, the Rio 2016 Olympic silver medallists are back on the campaign trail together as they and the rest of the fleet get to grips with the adjustable rudder elevators now permitted on the foiling Nacra 17 catamaran. Waterhouse and Darmanin were prevented from completing the event due to Covid. The team setting the pace were Olympic Champions Ruggero Tita and Caterina Banti. The Italians won Tokyo gold with relative ease last August but in Palma their mastery of the new foiling setup put them in a different league. The adjustable rudder elevators allow for the potential for full upwind foiling, so learning how to mode the boat for different conditions requires full focus as the fleet learns the new rules of when to attempt full foiling, and when to stay in low-riding mode. The 1,100 sailors in Palma were hugely excited to be back on the campaign trail at the start of the new Olympic cycle. Just as well, with less than two and a half years to go before the 2024 Olympic Sailing regatta in Marseille. More than ever, time is the most precious resource.
PHOTOSAILING ENERGY/WORLD SAILING
“Half of the 10 events are now flying above the surface. The 49er - so radical when it launched 25 years ago - is now looking quite conventional”
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JUNE 2022 Sailing Today with Yachts & Yachting
ABOVE GBR’s Micky Beckett winning gold at the first major Olympic class regatta of this cycle in the ILCA 7 (Laser) - the only class without major change
ANDY RICE As a sailing journalist and TV commentator Andy has unparalleled knowledge of the performance racing scene, from grassroots to elite level
