Once again, the Olympic sailing elite is in Hyères for one of the most anticipated events of the season. For the first time in France, the SOF will bring together on the Hyères field of play the 10 classes that will be present in Marseille for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.

The 470 looks like being one of the most hotly contested classes in Hyères.

Fifty-six 470 mixed crews from twenty-two countries started racing on Monday April 25th with two races sailed every day.
 

Beautiful conditions graced the fourth day in the 53rd Semaine Olympique Française de Hyères. A light and shifty morning gave way to an afternoon of fine if choppy conditions in 12-15 knot easterlies. It made for a full day of competitive sailing across the 10 classes.

470 (mixed double-handed dinghy)

Sweden’s Anton Dahlberg and Lovisa Karlsson showed their combined powers (Dahlberg took silver in Tokyo and Karlsson crewed Sweden women’s entry) as they seized the yellow bib after being the only ones of the lead boats to put together two consistent races (3, 5). They are in pole position but have no margin for error with the leaderboard bunched behind them. Germany’s Luise Wanser & Philipp Autenrieth, won the first race but were 13th in the second.

A wedding win goodbye

One of the contenders they will not have to worry about is Britain’s Martin Wrigley and Eilidh McIntyre, who signed off their regatta in style by wining the second race to move into fourth place. 

The other British boat came in second and 1-2 was a good way to finish the day, “and our regatta actually, I’m going home, I get married next weekend, so I’m off home to my hen party,” Eilidh McIntyre, the women’s 470 gold medallist last summer at the Tokyo Olympics, said

Wrigley: “It definitely gave us a bit more fuel in the last race.”

McIntyre: “I wish it had done in the first.”

Ryan Orr (from Britain’s next door boat): “I’ve never seen Eili pump so hard as in the last one.”

470s mixed evolution

For this Olympiad, some classes are entirely new to the Olympics, some have changed their equipment and some, like the 470s, have changed their crew. The mixed 470 crews are still getting to know each other after the 470 class after nearly 50 years with a men’s and women’s fleet has become a mixed boat for the Paris 2024 Olympics. The 470 class decided not to make any changes to this technical boat that was first included in the Montreal 1976 Olympics. The French might have had much to say about any major changes, as this is a boat close to their hearts having been designed 60 years ago by the French naval architect, André Cornu.

“What’s interesting for us is that the racing is super close, almost more than it was before, probably, because you’ve got the two tops of the fleet merged,” McIntyre said. “In some cases you’ve got double the really good boats, so many good people coming back and quite a few splits of good teams.”

“I honestly thought it was going to be a write-off for female crews, I just didn’t think we were going to be big and strong enough. And actually, sort of doing fine, which is pretty cool. It just goes to show how mixed teams can be and how they can work.”

Results (after 8 races)
 
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