Olympians rise as big easterlies wind up Hyères
Woken Spanish leave 470s in their wake
Australia rule the ILCAs
“If you don't like days this like then you have to stop this sport” - Werken-Jonker, ILCA 6
After the Champagne and sunshine of Monday and Tuesday, Wednesday brought the wind and tonic to the 57th Semaine Olympique Française de Hyères – TPM.
A mixture of the conditions and the first day of the three-day “Elimination phase” brought the best out of the best.
Only the iQFOiL fleets were allowed out in the morning with the red and white AP flag hoisted for the rest of the classes, but after 12:30 the wind shifted slightly right and dropped a few knots allowing them out. The kites still only managed two races in the men and one for the women.
But you could not hope for a better start to an Olympic sailing event with the different conditions - subtly on the first two days, more brutally on the third - testing the skills of the fleet.
The 470s looked close to their limit - but Spain’s Palma champions, Jordi Xammar Hernández & Marta Cardona Alcántara said it was “top range conditions - about 80% of the boat’s capability - avoiding capsizes was something that we had in mind during all the downwinds.”
As an example of the different challenges the 10 classes faced, in the iQFOiL, after the pumping aerobic workout in 5 knots on day one, and 10 knots on day two, this was about bigger weight training and hanging on in 25 knots. The one design class (7.3m sails for women, 8m for men) mean only the harness line and boom height can be changed not the size, so yesterday was the sailors adjusting their bodies, not the sails, to the conditions.
But in keeping with Windsurfing’s chilled out traditions, Nicolo Renna, the leader in the men’s iQFOiL in the light winds and still at the end of Wednesday (despite the best efforts of Australia’s Paris 2024 silver medallist, Grae Morris, could not have been more relaxed. Asked about competing in Hyères, his focus was very much onshore: “It's a nice place, I like it, honestly, the supermarkets are super close, a lot of apartments close, good organisation and there’s parking!” he said.
470 (mixed double-handed dinghy)
Jordi Xammar Hernández & Marta Cardona Alcántara said they were caught napping on day 1, but they had woken up by Wednesday to leave the fleet in their wake and win all three races in commanding fashion. It was statement of precision, speed and intent. The British, Wrigley / Harris stayed second and candidate for most improved boat of the week went to the French Pennaneac’h / Williot, who were 17th after the first two days but jumped to third overall as the two Italian leaders from the first two days struggled in the bigger winds.
Jordi Xammar Hernández & Marta Cardona Alcántara (ESP), 470
JXH: Let's call it like a perfect day. First day, I think we were a bit sleepy. And from there yesterday we had a really good day - in the same conditions as the first day - so we proved that it's not that we have to improve, but we have to make sure we are awake! And it’s about realising what are the important points in the not much amount of time that we have before the start, which is not easy.
And today we had beautiful top range conditions and obviously super happy, taking the three race wins in Hyères in strong conditions.
MCA: I think the downwinds were very tricky, and we did know a good job training and we showed it in the races, so we're very happy, you know? That the work of the precision paid off in the downwind, so very happy.
JXH: Second race, we lead from beginning, almost from beginning. Last race, we were not on the best position on the race course on the first beat, and then we were gaining goals all day.
So we had all kind of situations, winning from the beginning and catching up.
It was quite top range sailing. We were 80%, - 80% for the boat. I think our class, holds up quite well in the wind. But it was really good fun, on the limit. avoiding capsizes was something that we had in mind during all the downwinds.
MCA: I think it's very competitive in the top, it is very tight, I think the level is going up every year,
JXH: Top 3 are quite there. But the level of the fleet is very high.
iQFOiL (men’s & women’s windsurfing)
iQFOiL were the only class allowed to start on schedule at 11:00 in the wind and waves. The intense 20-minute races were not at full speed because of the chop and it was about staying relaxed on the long reaches, managing flight through the chop, and avoiding the race-ruining big wipeout. After the aerobic workout of the pumping on the first two days, this was about bigger weight training and hanging on. The one design sails (7.3m for women, 8m for men) can only be adjusted on the spacing and harness line not the size, so yesterday was the sailors’s adjusting their bodies not the sails
Women
Palma champion and SOF 2025 champion, Tamar Steinberg (ISR) won three of the four races, and did not compete in the third to take the overall lead from China’s Zheng Yan. Italy’s Olympic champion, Marta Maggetti, stays third as the top three detached from the rest of the fleet.
Tamar Steinberg (ISR) iQFOiL
“I am happy with it, I had a really nice day today. Usually, I'm pretty good in the strong winds, but every time it's tricky and you never know how the equipment will feel, how you are feeling. So to finish the day and actually feel good with the way I sailed is nice.
We managed to do 12 races until now (in three days) and every day was very challenging, different challenges.
Yesterday was super light and super, super physical and really hard races and today, the other kind of physical, like just to be able to control and hold the gear hard. It's very special.
Every time it's different (in Hyères). Last year there was a super strong day, maybe the strongest I've sailed in my life, which was crazy, and I won the four races last year. But today it's different. It wasn't that strong, it was choppy, it was hard.
Every day we're with the same gear, using the 7.3m sail and in sailing, or windsurfing specifically, it's amazing how versatile you need to be. And also with the training onshore; I'm not sure what (conditions) I’m training for and what will actually happen. You just need to be super versatile. Yesterday (in light winds) was super high heart rate and a lot of pumping and like doing fast training onshore, and today was more like holding a plank for a long time. You just need like to hold on to the gear and the heart rate is not so high.”
Men
Proving that they are not fair weather fliers, Italy had the leader and two in the top four. Nicolo Renna kept his overall lead and has been the most consistent rider over the three different days.
But Australia’s Paris 2024 silver medallist, Grae Morris, began to flex his Olympic muscles winning the last four of the five races to move into second place.
Nicolo Renna (ITA) iQFOiL
“It's really nice today, honestly, really fun conditions. Much more fun than yesterday, for sure. I'm quite balanced with all the conditions, but I really like everything in these conditions.
It’s the same 8 metre sail, and you have to adjust a bit with harness line, the boom height, and this kind of stuff, the spacer, because we can change the spacer. When it's windy, we can move it so there is less angle to have less power from the foil, because we have more power from the wind.
Not such big waves today, but there was some chop. I fell in one race, the second one, I had some really massive chop and I couldn’t do nothing, and my foil went down, crazy.
Honestly, we can go out in much more wind. We have bigger ranges, it was not survival conditions. We can go to 30 knots.
I've been one time with RS:X and this is my 2nd time.
It's a nice place, I like it, honestly, the supermarkets are super close, a lot of apartments close, good organisation and there’s parking.
You can have a lot of different condition here, maybe we’ll have some Mistral later in the week!
[On the strength of Italian sailing] Italian, like with the French, there is a long story of sailing. But yes, it just looks particularly in this competition, I saw also the other Italians at the top (of the leaderboards. I think sailing is like this, there's like a lot of up and down and like now we're all up! I don’t know because in Palma it was not like this”
Shahar Zubari, Israel women’s iQFOiL coach, SOF 2009 RS:X windsurfing champion, Beijing 2008 Olympics bronze
“I think it's a really high-level competition. In terms of conditions, Hyères has a unique challenges. Every time we come here, we get different conditions. and every competition we have something a bit different every day, and I think this is what makes this place special. The sailors have to adjust themselves and not the equipment. They have to tune themselves with the right mindset and the equipment they have, how just to sell this class with 5 knots, but also with like today, 25 knots. And in the end, I think that we can see who is the best sailor.”
Formula Kite (men’s and women’s kite)
All about control for the kites yesterday and riders keeping the speed manageable, staying low and efficient, and nailing transitions without getting rag-dolled after launching from the beach in Salins, north of the Hyères sailing area.
Women
France’s Paris 2024 silver medalist, Lauriane Nolot, finished second in the only race possible yesterday preserving the big gap to her two Chinese and British challengers.
Men
Singapore’s Max Maeder took the lead from Italy’s Riccardo Pianosi, the SOF 2025 champion, with victory in the first of the two races, and kept it with third place in the second.
49er (men’s and women’s double-handed skiff)
High-wire handling under pressure for the skiffs with flips and capsizes the punishment for sloppiness.
Women’s FX
Australia’s Laura Harding and Annie Wilmot won both races in the FX on Wednesday to jump into second place, as China’s Yingqian Wang & Xiaoya Su struggled and conceded the overall lead to Italy’s Sofia Giunchiglia & Giulia Schio, who could only finish eleventh but stay second overall.
Men’s 49er
Ireland’s Robert Dickson & Sean Waddilove, fourth at the Paris 2024 Olympics, took the overall lead but they were joined at the top by duos who had struggled on the first two days. The Chinese, Swedes and French shared the spoils as both American boats struggled.
ILCA 6 and 7 - (women’s & men’s solo dinghy)
ILCA 6
Australia’s Zoe Thomson took the overall lead with victory in the first race and tenth in the second was enough to hold on to it as the top 10 filled with some familiar names and previous champions. A twentieth place in the second race saw Netherlands’ overnight leader Maxime van de Werken-Jonker drop to fifth. As she said at the end with a laugh, they do not put your name on the yellow jersey.
Maxime van de Werken-Jonker (NED), ILCA 6
“We had good winds and some waves. We had to wait for a bit this morning. but eventually, we had a very good day. Only two races, it would have been fun to do a third one
The level (of the fleet) is very high these days. I feel like a lot of girls stepped up their game and are more fit in these conditions, a lot of strong girls and it's a bit of shorter racing in the gold fleet, so it's so tight at the top mark and it's not just the speed rates, it's about tactics. It's a very cool battle. And especially if you're doing good. But still, today I had one good race, one bad race, and even the bad race, like you're just so focused and there's so many boats around you.
If you don't like days this like this then you have to stop this sport. I think with a new system the points are super close. I mean, I'm wearing the yellow bib, but it doesn't say it’s mine, right? (Laughs) Everything can still happen in the coming days.
I think I'm quite an all around sailor, I'm good in the breeze as well, but I think my game in the light breeze is not bad either. That's what makes me (competitive) if you are good in everything. But this is way more fun, downwind sailing in this.
You don't have ocean swell (in Hyères) like in some places we go, so the sea state is choppy, not easy, but not survival mode. It depends a bit on the direction. Today we had a bit of easterly. It was quite stable. We had rain, so I think that was the reason why it got a bit more shifty.
(Monday and Tuesday lighter and more shifty) I think that's a very Mediterranean kind of wind. I mean, I'm from Holland, so we’re not you're not used to that, but I've been sailing for some years in the Mediterranean. So I think that's what's specific to Hyères, that sea breeze coming in.
I think it's still windy (tomorrow, Thursday), but a bit lighter. So we put our legs up tonight, have a good rest and we fight again for it tomorrow.”
ILCA 7
Australia’s double Olympic champion, Matt Wearn, jumped past his two British challengers, to take the overall lead by winning the first race and finishing second in the second. Overnight leader, Michael Beckett could only manage 13th in the second to fall behind his GB team mate Elliot Hanson.
Nacra 17 (mixed double-handed catamaran)
The other double Olympic champions going for three-peat, Italy’s Ruggero Tita & Caterina Banti continued their dominant form winning both races to stay top. Their compatriots, Gianluigi Ugolini & Maria Giubilei, were second to them in both races with the rest of the field struggling for consistency behind them.
Text Credit: FFVoile - SOF
Photo Credit: FFVoile - SOF / SailingEnergy