Solo Sailing

There are light winds in the forecast for the beginning of the sailing competition at the 2024 Olympics on Sunday, potentially creating a significant challenge for the sailors in a bay ringed by cliffs and islands that make for ever-changing currents in the air and water. The first regattas in this Mediterranean port city feature four of the ten Olympic categories; men's and women's iQFOiL windsurfing, and the black-sail skiffs known as 49er for men and 49erFX for women. For all events, points are earned over multiple regattas on multiple days making sailing a marathon where medals are won by strategy and concentration as much as by physical strength. But when winds are light, it gets very physical, especially for the windsurfers who need to pump their sails hard to get fast enough for the foil to kick in, making the board fly over the water. A new windsurf opens possibilities The foil is the novelty this year for windsurfing opening the discipline to young athletes since everyo

A roadmap to follow for the sailing competition at the Paris Games: Athletes to WatchMarit Bouwmeester, Netherlands: She's returning for her fourth Games in the ILCA 6, formerly known as laser, after a bronze in Tokyo, gold in Rio de Janeiro and silver in London. Martine Grael and Kahena Kunze, Brazil: They won gold medals at the last two Olympics in the women's skiff known as 49erFX. They face stiff competition from Dutch duo Odile van Aanholt and Annette Duetz, the current world champions, and Sweden's team of Vilma Bobeck and Rebecca Netzler, world champions in 2023. Max Maeder, Singapore: At only 17, he's widely considered the man to beat in kitesurfing. Stu McNay, United States: The 42-year-old McNay has competed in the past four Olympics and will race in Marseille in the mixed dinghy known as 470 together with Lara Dallman-Weiss. The reigning world champions in this new Olympic event are Spain's Jordi Xammar and Nora Brugman. Daniela Moroz, United States: The San Francisco B

Asian Games bronze medallist Vishnu Sarvanan became the first Indian sailor to qualify for successive Olympics as he made the cut at the World Championships here on Wednesday. A Subedar from the Mumbai-based Army Yachting Node, the 24-year-old secured qualification for the upcoming Paris Games by finishing 26th out of 152 participants in ILCA-7. He thus becomes the first Indian sailor to make the cut for Paris 2024. Vishnu secured the top rank among Asian countries, surpassing gold medallists from Singapore in the Asian Games and medal winners from Hong Kong and Thailand in the Continental Qualifiers. Vishnu concluded the competition with an overall score of 174. Following the standard rule, his least score of 49 in a race was subtracted, resulting in a net score of 125. The weather condition was windy and at its challenging best at the Adelaide Sailing Club, taking a toll on the sailors. 'Numb fingers, legs destroyed' ================== So gruelling has been the race that Vish

When the Asian Games was delayed by a year owing to the COVID-19 situation in China, it wreaked havoc with the schedule of many athletes, but for Indian sailor Neha Thakur, it proved to be a blessing in disguise. Neha won a silver in girl's dinghy ILCA-4 event to open the country's medal count in the sport at the Hangzhou Games here on Tuesday. But, if the Games were held last year, as per the original schedule, Neha would not have been a part of the Indian team, as Ritika Dangi was the country's number one in her event at that point in time. However, Ritika, who was originally the Indian qualifier for the Asian Games, exceeded the age limit and was rendered ineligible as ILCA-4 class is meant for U-17 girls. So the rising Neha, who had clinched a bronze in Asian Championships in Abu Dhabi last year, became the automatic choice. "Ritika was set to take part in the Asian Games, but she was unfortunate to go out of the age bracket after turning 18 this year," National Sailing School

The Indian sailing duo of KC Ganapathy and Varun Thakkar finished seventh in the sixth qualifying race of the mens 49er class at the Enoshima Yacht Harbour

The Indian pair of K Ganapathy and Varun Thakkar languished at 18th after four races in the men's skiff 49er sailing event at the Tokyo Olympics here on Wednesday

Francois Gabart crossed a virtual finish line drawn between the island of Ushant off France's northwest tip and Lizard Point in southwest England comfortably beating the previous record