July to August is quite a nerve-wracking time for competitive sailors and spectators as two mega events begin: the Paris 2024 Olympics and the America’s Cup 2024 in Barcelona.
While Paris is ready to host all sorts of international athletes, the competing sailors are heading instead to the city of Marseille on the shores of the Mediterranean Sea. The revamped Roucas-Blanc Marina, renamed Marseille Marina for the Games, offers ideal conditions, with relatively constant and suitable winds, along with good spectating positions for up to 14,000 fans.
The events will run from 28 July to 8 August with the introduction of kite-foiling (the fastest summer Olympics sport), the iQFoil windsurfing and Mixed Gender Dinghy 470 format at the 2024 Paris Games. It is important to note that in the sailing events, athletes are being evenly represented by gender, featuring 165 men and 165 women. If you haven’t seen anyone foiling yet, this is the time to watch the live telecasts of the hydrofoil kiteboarding. Athletes reach a top speed of 37.3 miles per hour (60 kilometers per hour) and look as though they are flying above the water.
The iQFoil has now replaced the RS:X class, so I’m wondering how many RS:X sailors have actually changed boards for this Olympics?
The competitions typically consist of a series of races held over several days, with each race lasting 30 minutes to an hour, depending on the class and conditions. The number of races and the format may vary between events, but the goal is to determine an overall winner based on the cumulative results of all races.
Though a number of sailors competing across ten different events at these Games were tested by Mistral winds at the Paris Test Event last year, we do hope for fair winds for all the qualified participants! It’s truly years and years of dedication that brings these Olympians to this futuristic battleground.
The surfers on the other hand will be competing 9700 miles away from France, in Tahiti, French Polynesia—at the shores of Teahupo’o village, known for its massive towering barrel waves, also nicknamed the “End of the Road.” The men’s and women’s fields will be made up of 24 surfers each and with waves as high as 26 feet—it’s a complicated playground for the athletes as well as for the judges! I did hear one athlete mention that they felt a little left out from the main festivities in Paris and interactions with other international sports.
This sailing gala also brings a buzz to the city of Marseille, birthplace of two historic sailing clubs that have contributed immensely to sailing in the Mediterranean for the last 142 years, in the case of the Union Nautique Marseille (UNM), and 137 years, in the case of the Société Nautique. It would be super exciting to be around in Marseille this week onwards as everyone will be talking sailing, watching sailing and making up new sea shanties.
If spectator space runs out at Marseille and you’re in the neighborhood, I would highly recommend you sail the Gulf of Lion towards the Balearic sea where the 37th America’s Cup is being held in Barcelona at the Marina Port Vell.
Keep a lookout for these competitors who are at the top of their game:
- iQFOil: Emma Wilson (GBR)
- Formula kite: Max Maeder (SGP)
- 49erFX : Jo Aleh, Molly Meech (NZL)
- ILCA 6 : Marit Bouwmeester (NED), Anne Marie Rindom (DEN)
Written somewhere on a boat in Albania.
