Mixed-gender boats start racing in 1st Games with equal sailing medal chances for men and women

MARSEILLE, France (AP) — The mixed-gender boats – both dinghies and a multihulls – took to the Mediterranean on Friday and Saturday in Marseille for the 2024 Olympics, just as the first medal races in skiffs and windsurfing were held.

The first one-man, one-woman crew in the Olympics sailed in Rio on the Nacra 17, a foiling catamaran that flies off the water at high speed. For these Games, the 470, a much slower, more traditional-looking boat, was added as mixed for the first time to balance the medal possibilities for men and women.

“It’s a class where you need to be very in tune with each other, and matching in weight and skill set,” said Emil Järudd of Sweden who’s returning for his second Olympics in the Nacra 17, this time as the helm with Hanna Jonsson as crew. “Sometimes I compare it to a couple’s dance.”

For Britain’s Nacra 17 team, who got silver in Tokyo, it literally is – John Gimson and his crew, Anna Burnet, are engaged to be married exactly a month from the scheduled medal race to be held this week.

“It’s a really challenging boat to sail, very rewarding when it goes right and punishing if you get it wrong,” said Burnet.

When the boat starts foiling – a sensation Gimson says is “like an airplane taking off” – both sailors are trapezing above the water, trying very hard to balance the easily capsizing boat. Synchronizing their movements becomes essential.

“It takes an unbelievable among of coordination to do it right,” Gimson said. They’ve been training with Tokyo gold medalists Ruggero Tita and Caterina Banti of Italy, who are aiming to repeat this summer.

“To win one Olympics is certainly difficult,” said Tita. “You know what’s harder? Winning a second one.”

Tita started sailing in alpine lakes, his parents driving him for hours with a little boat strapped to the roof of the car. Now he’s also on the Luna Rossa team for America’s Cup – and he says the sensation of speed and maneuverability on the far smaller Nacra is far bigger, like “a Go Kart” compared to a Mack truck.

A Nacra boat weighs about the same as the two sailors combined, making it sensitive to any movement – and to any trash in the water that might entangled with its foil or the nearly 5-foot (1.5 meter) rudder.

Off the water, Gimson and Burnet have been working to promote foiling technology for big polluting ships like ferries, hoping that reducing the drag in the water might reduce the energy needs and facilitate greener sources.

The 470 is a much more traditional boat – tactics are crucial because it’s slower, meaning the winning devil is in the details.

“It’s extremely technical so you need to be really smart, it’s easy to lose your head with the details because there is a lot to tune,” said Spain’s Jordi Xammar, who won bronze in Tokyo and this year is the helm to Nora Brugman.

The United States is also fielding a veteran in the 470, Stu McNay, who turned 43 during his fifth Olympics here, and is the helm with Lara Dallman-Weiss as crew.

“It’s more important the teammate than the boat you sail,” Dallman-Weiss said.

On Sunday, the new Olympic sailing class of kitesurfing – the summer Games’ fastest sport – was also scheduled to hit the water. Its final races, scheduled for August 8, will close sailing for these Games that have seen high heat and fickle winds try athletes’ physical and mental endurance.