56th Semaine Olympique Française de Hyères

56th Semaine Olympique Française de Hyères - Day 3

by Fédération Française de Voile 23 Apr 11:07 PDT 19-26 April 2025

56th Semaine Olympique Française de Hyères day 3 © FFVoile - SOF / SailingEnergy

56th Semaine Olympique Française de Hyères day 2 ©Sailing Energy / Semaine Olympique Française

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"Epic", "Crazy", "Nothing like it" and many words too colourful to include in a family press release sprang from the excited Mistral-lashed lips and sometimes stunned faces of those Olympic classes last back to the boat park. There is no sailing regatta in the world like French Olympic Week in Hyères when the Mistral blasts over 25 knots into the Bay under blue skies in brilliant sunshine.

Denmark's Anna Munch, who held on to her overnight lead, was beaming and breathless as she furled her sail. "The first race was 20-25 knots and the second one was 25 plus, proper Mistral - you only get it here," the experienced campaigner said. "The Mistral makes it really a speed game and you can see some of the girls struggle more in this and some are super fast.

"You've just got to send it. It was fun out there. We were talking about it before we went out - you are a little bit nervous, because you know you're just going to £$£! yourself out there, you know it's gonna hurt like a m0£%@$*%£@!#. But then when you get in after the day, you know you pushed it, then it just feels really nice. The day I don't feel nervous, I should probably quit!"

Roos Wind, the 19-year-old from the Netherlands, was one of 729-strong field of all ten Olympic classes experiencing this legendary meteorological phenomenon that blows down the Rhône Valley, for the first time. "Second time here, first Mistral!" she said sitting on her boat and still taking it in.

"I was here for the Europeans two years ago when I was 17, we had strong winds, but not these kind of conditions. This was my first time in the Mistral winds. I like strong wings, I love the surfing and the hiking and when it's getting tough, but...today...when the wind really started building it got crazy and I was struggling with my manoeuvres - it was crazy, crazy winds."

The men in the ILCA 7 single-handed dinghies had just come in nearly two hours before, after a lively third race where they got a taste of what was to come. It proved to be just an hors d'oeuvre. "That was survival conditions...and they're (the ILCA 6) still out there," Nicholas Halliday, who also held on to his overnight ILCA 7 lead, said.

In the end two was enough and they brought the ILCA 6 in after two of their scheduled three races, leaving the kitesurfers and windsurfers out their flying.

When they are old and grey they will speak of this day.

56th Semaine Olympique Française de Hyères day 3 - photo © Sailing Energy

ILCA 6 and 7 - (women's & men's solo dinghy)
The biggest fleet of boats in the regatta with 112 entries in the ILCA 7 and 76 ILCA 6.

ILCA 6
Two races today

Denmark's Anna Munch kept the overall lead after a strong second in the second race in the yellow group. She capsized in the first race and had to fight back to tenth (her discard for now). Belgium's Emma Plasschaert showed her class and moved onto's Munch's shoulder in second, after finishing second in the first race before winning the second in blue group.

She moved past training parter, USA's Charlotte Rose (3, 7 in blue group), who stays third ahead of the two Italians, Chiara Beninin Floriani and Emma Mativi, who both won a race in yellow group.

Anna Munch (DEN): "The first race, I lost my lane after the start, I had to struggle a bit, the speed was there, and then I capsized at the gate. I ended up finishing okay, but I made it hard for myself.

The second one was more simple - starting at the pin and then going left, sending it. And then I was second in that one. I really enjoyed sailing today. it was full on. I feel like this is what the laser is, the more you hike the faster you go, it's such a physical boat. I enjoy these days, it's nice when it's light and more technical, but this is what they call proper sailing."

ILCA 7
Three races today

Hong Kong's Nicholas Halliday kept the overall lead with three impressive races on a high-scoring day in the evolving conditions after the 11:00 start. Halliday was third in the first race in yellow group, won the second and was fifth in the third as the Mistral blew in.

The Netherlands's Duko Bos stayed in second but was unhappy with his 6, 5, 3 in blue group. Italy's Dimitri Peroni (2, 11, 5 in blue group) moved into third.

Nicholas Halliday (HKG): "I was just hanging on for my life on the last downwind - and the ILCA 6 are still going! It actually started off a bit light but was picking up throughout the day and the last race was just pure survival conditions. It was epic. It was just hiking, and then hanging on for the downwind. It started off at about 10-12 knots, the second race was 15-18 knots and the last race, I have no idea, 20+. I'm really happy. I didn't know what to expect coming in to today. I had a pretty big discard, but, I'm pretty happy to come away with three top tens."

Duko Bos (NED): "It was a tough day, I think I made it quite hard for myself. But in the end made it through ok. Every race was different and it was it was good racing! (Laughing). It built, it definitely built. We were blue group and the last, it was proper Mistral. We expected it and it came! It was fun. [Lot of capsizing?] Well, on the way home! (laughing), when you're not focussed it's easy. In the breeze, the guys you would expect were there. In the light, well not light, still hiking, but in the first race, there were more people, so yeah, actually, I wouldn't say easier, but it got a bit more spread out when it got windy."

56th Semaine Olympique Française de Hyères day 3 - photo © FFVoile - SOF / SailingEnergy

iQFOiL (men's & women's windsurfing)
Women (41 entries)
Four races today

Israel's impressive windsurfing team were ready for the Mistral! They were the last of the fleets home, enjoying the biggest winds. After continuing to dominate in the four races today, they hold all three places on the podium and five of the top seven.

But Tamar Steinberg was again in a class of her own with four more wins. She has now won seven of the eight races. Safe to say that, Israel's Paris 2024 Olympic silver medallist, Sharon Kantor, has plenty of competition on her hands for LA 2028. She could only manage 8, 14, 2, 2 but that good enough to move into second overall. Shahar Tibi (3, 4, DNC(42), 9) stayed in third.

Men (76 entries)
Four races today

Grae Morris, Australia's Paris 2024 Olympic silver medallist, extended his overall lead by winning all four races in yellow group. Poland's Pawel Tarnowski (14, 3, 5, 3 in blue group), held onto second place. France's Clément Bourgeois (2, 2, 2, 4 in blue group) did likewise in third overall. But they all had an eye on France's Nicolas Goyard, who was as dominant as Morris, winning all four races in the blue group to leap up into fourth place overall.

Nicolas Goyard (FRA): "The conditions were great. It was good to wait before going on the water because the wind suddenly picked up around 13:00. It was a long day because the committee boat was pushed around a lot. We did four races, and I think everyone is burned out. I did well, I won all four of my races. I was going a little faster than the others all the time, but you had to manage how committed you were, I mean, the level of risk. The idea is not to crash, otherwise you lose time. I fell twice upwind, it was a close call. On the long beam tacks the wind was very strong, we were sailing downwind without a harness. It got to over 30 knots, the wind was gusty, a bit cold and dense. A hell of a day!"

Formula Kite (men's and women's kite)
Women (22 entries)
Five races today

China hold the top two spots after Jingyue Chen jumped into second place after winning the first two races of the day and backing that up with a second and third (either side of a DNC for not finishing the fourth race).

China's Wan Li is vulnerable at the top after having to discard her 9, 8 in the first two races, a 3, 3, 2 finish ensured she keeps the overall lead overnight.

Britain's Lily Young (4, 4, 7, 4, 5) is in third and all will be alert to the threat of France's Lauriane Nolot (silver medallist in Paris 2024), who was back in full flight with two second places and two victories before a crash prevented her finishing the last race.

Lauriane Nolot (FRA): "For me, it's a gentle return to form, and I see that I'm improving little by little, which is nice. Today I really enjoyed myself, I like the strong wind conditions. I was in the lead in the last race and downwind I got hit by the sail, I was forced to head back (to shore) early. But I'm very happy! Today I had that feeling of commitment and I was making good progress compared to the others."

Men (60 entries)
Five races today

The 18-year-old Singaporean, Maximilian Maeder (2, 1, 1, 16, 2), re-took the overall lead after winning two of the five races and finishing second in the first and last of gold fleet. Italy's Riccardo Pianosi, won the first race and was second in the second before he dropped back, but is still in touching distance. With a gap behind them, Greece's Kameron Maramenidis is currently ending the keen battle for third.

56th Semaine Olympique Française de Hyères day 3 - photo © Sailing Energy

Nacra 17 (mixed double-handed catamaran)
29 entries
Two races today

Gianluigi Ugolini & Maria Giubilei confirmed their dominance of the field in all conditions by winning both races and have opened up a 16-point lead on the field after eight races.

Austria's Laura Farese & Matthäus Zöchling (7, 7, 4) held on to second place and Britain's John Gimson & Anna Burnett (2, 5, 3), winners in Palma just ahead of the Italian duo, moved into third place and just a point behind the Austrians, with the podium looking like a battle between the top five.

Gianluigi Ugolini & Maria Giubilei (ITA) Gianluigi Ugolini: "Two nice races. We had the chance to do two races in good conditions, not forced, you know. Happy. The second one, after the start, it built up really fast and it reached 20-25. The problem was the waves, because normally we can sail really easily in 20-25 knots, but with waves, it's a bit tricky. I think we were able to open up big gaps (on the fleet), we had a really good strategies, so we got into first position from the start and then just let the boat go as fast as possible."

49er (men's and women's double-handed skiff)
Women's FX (38 entries)
Three races today

USA's re-formed duo, Paris Henken & Helena Scutt moved to the top of the leaderboard with another high-scoring day in the fleet making it one the hardest to call. They finished second in the first race of the day and were then ninth and tenth in the next two.

But that was enough to displace Belgium's Isaura Maenhaut & Anouk Geerts who finished 14, 15, 8 after a day of troubled starts saw them slip back to second overall. France's Lara Granier and Amélie Riou (5, 6, 5) enjoyed one of the best days to jump up into third place.

Helena Scutt: "We had a good day, it was super fun. That third race. really ticked up, and it was like, all right, boat handling queens here!"

Paris Henken: "Our mantra today was sail to what you see and what you have. We stayed pretty consistent. We didn't win any race. races, but we passed boats when we could and tried not to make too many mistakes."

Paris Henken: "At two minutes to go (before the last race), there was actually like a big hole, not much wind and maybe that was kind of like the telltale sign that something was going to change. But it maybe got up to 16, 17, 18 knots. It wasn't crazy until like literally right when we were finishing."

Isaura Maenhaut & Anouk Geerts (BEL): Anouk Geerts: "It's a super big fleet and a high scoring regatta. Everyone is a bit up and down, so it's so hard to to say. And every day you can come away with 15 points or 50 points almost. I think every day is very important on its own."

Isaura Maenhaut: "We enjoyed it! It felt a bit harder for us today. We struggled a little bit to come off the start, so it was about fighting back through the pack, which we managed quite well. But it was a bit hard to do our own strategy, which was a bit of unfortunate. In the third race we managed to still be in the top 10, so that was good. We just managed to all finish in decent saleable conditions, just after the finish, it really picked up. Because actually for the first race we had relatively light winds. So it was a mix of everything today."

56th Semaine Olympique Française de Hyères day 3 - photo © FFVoile - SOF / SailingEnergy

Men's 49er (67 entries)
Three races today

Despite being disqualified in blue group's second race for a premature start, Uruguay's duo of Hernando Umpierre and Fernando Diz jumped to the top of a tightly-packed leaderboard by finishing fourth in the first race and sixth in the third. Britain's James Grummett and Rhos Hawes, won the first race in yellow group and were then eighth and fourth to move into second place overall. Poland's Dominik Buksak & Adam Glogowski (5, 2, 8 in yellow group) moved into third. It is anyone's fleet still.

470 (mixed double-handed dinghy)
39 entries
One race today

Germany's Simon Diesch & Anna Markfort extended their lead by winning the only race of the day possible as the Mistral took hold. Spain's Olympic bronze medallist at Tokyo 2020 (2021), Jordi Xammar Hernández, with his new teammate, Marta Cardona Alcántara, were second to move into second place overall, but the German duo already have an 11-point lead after six races. France have the next three boats, but Matisse Pacaud and Lucie de Gennes slipped back to third overall after finishing seventh.

All results