Dutch Sailors snatch Spanish Gold

New-together Dutch sailors take an extraordinary win in Mallorca!

Imagine competing against the best 56 boats in the world and finishing nine of the first twelve races in the top four. Something must be right!

First of all let me tell you the result – then about the amazing background to the story.

Dutch sailing duo Odile van Aanholt and Annette Duetz have just won a Gold Medal racing the skiff class known as the 49erFX which took place at the Trofeo Princesa Sofia, held in Mallorca, Balearic Islands, Spain, between the 1st and 9th April – the first event in the 2022 Hempel World Cup Series.

It was a stunning result not least of all because Odile and Annette have never sailed together in a competition: Odile became world champion last year with crewmate Elise de Ruyter – but a head injury during training saw Elise withdraw from this event. Annette – who announced she was taking a break from the sport after winning Olympic Bronze last year with skipper Annemiek Bekkering – stepped in as crew at the last minute.

In recent years formidable performances in top level competition by the Brazilian two-time Olympic Gold winners Martine Grael and Kahena Kunze – eager to reward their nation’s investment in them – has left them almost untouchable in the field of 49erFX sailing. Yet in Mallorca Odile and Annette showed a healthy irreverence for the Brazilian mystique, constantly squeezing an extra knot from their boat to dominate the field from where they can watch the water – spotting any early signs of an advantageous shift in wind.

Although the 49erFX is only 4.9 metres long it’s capable of thrilling speeds of over 20 knots. Designed-in directional instability makes the skiff highly manoeuvrable – but hard to control! It was this latter feature which produced excitement and stress in abundance for Odile and Annette at the first turn of the final race in the competition – the Medal race.

Already assured of winning Gold on points, fighters Odile and Annette decided to approach the Medal race like any other – going all out to win it.

Thirteen knots of wind on the day was just enough to get the craft planing – which can be achieved at around 10 knots of hull speed.

Odile described the turmoil: At the first buoy we turned close behind the Brazilians intending to set-gybe on course for the better wind. The Brazilians performed exactly the same manoeuvre – so we tried to cut inside them. The Brazilian turn was quite aggressive – trying to freeze us out, of course – so we came too close and got an infringement penalty …then we lost control and almost capsized. Really I don’t know how we kept the mast upright …but Annette is a really experienced crew.

By the time they had regained control of their craft and performed their turnaround penalty they found themselves in last position amongst the fleet of ten of the world’s top class sailors. What a tribute, then, that by the time they crossed the finish line in that final race they had already clawed their way back to 6th place.

No matter, with consistently fast performances over the previous twelve races – only twice falling out of the top ten – their success was already assured – securing Spanish Gold ten points ahead of the Brazilians who took Silver, and eighteen points ahead of the Italians who took Bronze.

Odile and Annette agree that part of this success is due to their new pairing – although we are both still learning about each other, and still getting surprises, (Hey – what’s happening!!?) we have a good relationship and it’s fresh; says Odile. Separately, of course, they both have a great deal of experience.

This is a really great start to the season – let’s be honest, it couldn’t be better!

Victron Energy sponsor the Dutch national 49erFX team and we’re really proud of their success – admiring the way Odile and Annette drive hard for better performance and are always looking to discover higher levels in their ability.