Victron sponsored sailors Odile van Aanholt and Annette Duetz have achieved the dream of a lifetime winning a Gold medal at the Paris 2024 Olympics games in their skiff 49erFX!
Unexpected finish line Error!
The competition consisting of 13 races was fiercely contested with the lead changing hands many times over five days of events.
It was so close that by the final race the Gold medal could go to any of five boats. In the event it was won by Nederlands – as we know – in spite of the fact that passing between two buoys and believing they’d finished the race in first place the Dutch team stopped and began celebrating! Only when they saw the Swedish and Italian teams fly past on their way to the real finish line to take first and second place in the race did the Dutch Duo realise their error, sheet in, and continue for 100 metres eventually crossing the line in third!!
Thankfully that result was still good enough to secure them the Gold medal overall. Phew! What a good job they realised their error in time to save the whole competition after all their hard work!
The full detail of that race plus a roundup of the action over five day follows:
Olympic 49erFX highlights
On the first day there were light winds and calm water – conditions in which anything can happen and which favour the lightest competitors. At the end of the day’s three heats Nederland – who are not the lightest boat – were in the lead having achieved positions 5th – 1st – 1st respectively.
Day 2 first race witnessed the tactical brilliance of Dutch skipper Van Aanholt. In a really tight race with all skiffs bunched together and only seconds between any of them the French boat was in second place with the Netherlands in 9th.
Climbing slowly through the pack they found that the French boat’s Sarah Steyaert and Charline Picon were denying them any chance to overtake by keeping the Dutch in their wind shadow …when NED turned, the French turned to block them. The race might have continued like that all the way to the finish line with NED being unable to make any more speed and thus pull away from the fleet because of wind shadow from the French team . NED’s Odile waited for her chance and seized it when the French boat was locked in a cluster – making it impossible for the French boat to follow the Dutch team when they turned: within a couple of minutes of that shrewd manoeuvre the Netherlands were ranking in first position whilst the French had dropped to 11th!
It was already clear that during the rest of the competition the French boat was the one that Van Aanholt and Duetz would have to beat to win the competition.
Former World Champions Vilma Bobec and Rebecca Netzler of Sweden had a bad start to the competition but a change of form and some stronger winds produced excellent results lifting them to rank in third position by Day 3. From the point of view of the Dutch team, Sweden were beginning to sail dangerously well!
Nail biting Day 3!
Having lost the top spot to France at the close of day 2, the first race on day 3 was exactly the race NED didn’t want.
Let’s take a quick look at all three races of Day 3 which brought highs and lows:
After a suboptimal start to the first race (to use a NASA expression, when one of their rockets fails to lift off) by the seventh-minute team NED had climbed from the middle ranks to second place. Shortly before the first turn, however, a misjudged approach lost them speed – dropping to fifth – as they were forced to pinch higher into the wind in order to get round the mark. From their line of approach the track around the mark was not a simple U-Turn, but a loop – like the ‘awareness ribbons’ people sometimes wear on their blouse. As they closed with the mark the boats ahead of them had already done their loop and were now streaming directly toward team NED! forcing NED to give way, with more time lost. They rounded the mark in 10th.
Meanwhile, their main competitor the French boat began that race even more disastrously in last position, but determined sailing in the second half saw them climb steadily through the pack to position five – before falling back to finish over the line in 12th. For team NED, lots of tactics under pressure and some unlucky changes of wind direction saw them fall ever further. Every change of course, it seemed, put them in a more disadvantageous position. Even some super performances in between those tactical changes were not enough to save them from their 19th place at the finish line – ending a race which had seen them occupy every position on the table but ‘First’ and ‘Last’!
In the second race of Day 3 France was first over the line and NED made a poor start in 16th. Three minutes into the race France put in the first tack which turned out to be premature and saw them fall down the table to 6th by which time NED had climbed to 8th. It may have stayed that way but for a brave decision by Van Aaholt half way through the race (the first return to the starting line) where it is permitted to round either of the two buoys turning left (Port) or right (Starboard). NED was the only boat to take the right hand turn having spotted better wind in that area. (Other boats soon followed!) That decision immediately lifted NED up the rank – to first place for a while – and they eventually crossed the finishing line in 3rd. Another premature tack from the French boat saw them fall to 11th position – a rank from which they never recovered.
In the last race of Day 3 both the Netherlands and France came over the starting line to settle into the race in middle-ranking positions, but an early tack by France sent them down the table to 19th whilst the Dutch boat climbed steadily to first. A mistimed tack by the Netherlands sent them down the table to sixth; meanwhile the french had climbed back to 11th.
Approaching the final turn in that race NED had a bit of luck – three of the boats ahead of them mis-timed their tack, and a fourth – team Finland – crossed close in front on a port tack (port tack is meant to ‘give way’ and pass behind) …although that break in protocol didn’t appear to have a detrimental effect on the Dutch boat the Fins made a ‘go-around’ (a 360 degree turn performed as a penalty to avoid disqualification should any protest or appeal be made after the race). That series of events lifted the Dutch boat from fifth to first position in a matter of seconds. At last – a bit of luck!
They finished the race in 2nd having been overtaken by some great sailing from the NZ team of Jo Aleh and Molly Meech …and the French boat crossed the line in 11th. At the end of Day 3 NED had held their nerve after serious setbacks and hoisted themselves back to the number 1 position on the leader board! What a day it was!
Day 4
With the focus now on the Dutch and French sailors exchanging first and second places on a daily basis – Day 4 was not great for either team mostly finishing outside the top ten …but France had a ‘less worse’ day which secured them a 1 point lead over team NED, and put them back at the top of the table.
And now for a rundown of that EXTRAORDINARY Medal race!
After four days of competition the contest was so close that it was possible for any one of the top five teams to take the Gold medal. With just ten boats in the race – that’s half the fleet eligible for Gold! The excitement could not have been higher as the boats sheeted in and sped over the start line for the final time with an ideal wind strength of 12 knots.
The race began with arch-rivals France in 10th, Nederlands in 4th and NZ in the lead. But NED soon climbed to first place before a tack sent them back to 4th. The sudden changes in rank demonstrate how a single decision can cost the race – even if it’s remedied after a few seconds!
Meanwhile France – the team they had to beat – had begun to climb into a threatening position and were at 4th by the time NED had climbed back to 3rd.
At the first mark NED performed an excellent turn and downwind-sail hoist, catapulting them into the lead in first position – ahead of Sweden in 2. France wasn’t having much luck and fell down the table again to 8th.
It was at the second turn – halfway through the race – that NED secured what was surely going to be an unassailable lead? After an excellent gybe they were sailing faster than anyone else and pointing higher into the wind than anyone else. But with half the race still to run they weren’t secure yet …France had sailed fast to climb back to 4th.
A ‘give way’ just before the third and final turn saw NED fall to 6th place in no time at all …but France too had fallen down the table to 9th. A brilliant tack around the final mark shot NED back into first place – I scarcely know how it was achieved!
They romped home to what they thought was the finish line (as mentioned earlier) with USA in second place at which point both boats came to a stop and began to celebrate – only to see the Swedish boat fly past them and cross the real finish line in first – usurping NED of their achievement – closely followed by Italy in second.
Realising their mistake NED accelerated away to cross the line in 3rd. (USA’s Stephanie Roble and Maggie Shea who made the same mistake thinking they had achieved second place didn’t realise their error until much later and eventually finished last across the line – which will be a bitter disappointment, which we commiserate).
Many Congratulations to our sponsored sailors Odile van Aanholt and Annette Duetz and the team around them who have dedicated their lives to achieving this dream. Not only are Odile and Annette the Olympic Gold medal holders of the 49erFX skiff racing but they are also the current World Champions!
We admire their enthusiasm to learn; practice what they learned; and deploy those skills under pressure – never failing to believe they can become the best in the world! They have achieved it.
Final result for the 49erFX event : Nederlands Gold; Sweden Silver; France Bronze
Congratulations to all participating teams.
