Semaine Olympique Française in Hyères, France

by Marni Lane on 19 Apr 2007 Preview: Semaine Olympique Française de Voile in Hyères, France

Twenty-five US Sailing Team members and 29 Americans total are currently training in Hyères, France, prior to the 39th annual Semaine Olympique Française de Voile (French Sailing Week), an International Sailing Federation (ISAF) Grade 1 event.

Organizers of French Sailing Week expect approximately 1,000 elite sailors from more than 50 countries to compete. Regatta coordinator Bernard Bonneau expects to see 'intense battles' this year. He explained that the year before the Olympic Games is always particularly interesting at Hyères, because there is enormous pressure on all the competitors to make their countries' Olympic teams.

Registration begins this Thursday, and the first of five days of fleet racing is planned for Sunday. Friday's medal races follow the new Olympic format, lining up the top 10 teams in each class on the starting line on the final day of racing. The competition will be raced in 10 of the 11 classes chosen for the 2008 Olympic Games: 49er, 470 (Men & Women), Finn, Laser, Laser Radial, Neil Pryde RS:X (Men & Women), Tornado and Yngling. In addition, racing will be held for two of the three classes selected for the 2008 Paralympic Games: 2.4mR and Sonar.

470 Women sailors Molly Carapiet and Molly O'Bryan ('Team Molly') have spent the last week participating in a training camp, coached by Nigel Cochran, with four 470 Men's teams from the U.S., Greece, Canada and New Zealand. They said they have seen a variety of conditions in the South of France - anywhere from 3-6 knots to 20-25 knots. Team Molly wrote:
'We are trying to learn everything we can from the more experienced teams. We are becoming significantly more aggressive in the boat and in our positioning. We are supposedly 'sailing more like guys' now. We have been working on our boat control and handling as well as some speed work. Nigel has been pushing us hard and we have seen marked improvement in the past seven days. We even won a practice race the other day!' www.teammolly.org

'It feels like the tropics compared to Palma (de Mallorca, Spain), light winds and blue skies, but we know that any day a big breeze could roll through and last for several,' said Yngling sailor Carrie Howe of Team 7, who won the Princess Sofia Trophy last week in Spain.

'We feel comfortable here in Hyères,' Howe added. 'We keep it simple. All the sailors stay at the same place - Maeva - which is like a college dorm building where we yell to each other on the balconies. We grab bread at the same bread spot and steal Internet from the same places that have Internet here.'

Hyères is approximately 15 kilometers east of the city of Toulon in the Southeast corner of France on the Mediterranean Sea. Event organizers say it is famous for its 'ideal waters, rounded with the Iles d'Or: Porquerolles, Port Cros and Le Levant.' For more information and results from Semaine Olympique Française, please visit the event web site at sof.ffvoile.net.

The following USST members will compete in Hyères:

470 Men (117 entries): Mikee Anderson-Mitterling (Coronado, Calif.)/David Hughes (San Diego, Calif.); Stu McNay (Boston, Mass.)/Graham Biehl (San Diego, Calif.); Justin Law (Newport Beach, Calif.)/Michael Miller (Charleston, S.C.)

470 Women (59 entries): Amanda Clark (Shelter Island, N.Y.)/Sarah Mergenthaler (Harvey Cedars, N.J.); Erin Maxwell (Stonington, Conn.)/Isabelle Kinsolving (New York, N.Y.); Molly Carapiet (Belvedere, Calif.) /Molly O'Bryan (San Diego, Calif.)

Finn (76 entries): Zach Railey (Clearwater, Fla.); Geoffrey Ewenson (Annapolis, Md.)

Laser (202 entries): Brad Funk (Clearwater, Fla.); Andrew Campbell (San Diego, Calif.)

Radial (110 entries): Anna Tunnicliffe (Fort Lauderdale, Fla.) ; Paige Railey (Clearwater, Fla.)

RS:X Men (111 entries): Bob Willis (Chicago, Ill.)

RS:X Women (73 entries): Farrah Hall (Annapolis, Md.)

Tornado (37 entries): Don Thinschmidt (Holland, Mich.)/Drew Wierda (Miami, Fla.)

Yngling (29 entries): Sally Barkow (Chenequa, Wis.)/Debbie Capozzi (Bayport, N.Y.)/Carrie Howe (Grosse Pointe, Mich.)

Joining the team in Hyères are: Olympic Director Katie Kelly; High Performance Director and Head Coach Gary Bodie; Coaches Kenneth Andreasson, Kevin Burnham, Luther Carpenter, Kaj Glinkiewicz and Skip Whyte.

The 2007 USST consists of the top three-ranked sailors in each of the nine classes (11 events) selected for the 2008 Olympic Games: Finn (men); 470 (men and women); Laser (men); Laser Radial (women); Neil Pryde RS:X (men and women); 49er, Star, Tornado (all open); and Yngling (women). For a complete list of the 2007 USST and their hometowns, please visit:

www.ussailing.org/olympics/2007/team.asp

Newly launched in 2007, the Elite Youth Development Team represents the country's top youth sailors in the Laser and Laser Radial. To help the athletes gain more sailing experience at the highest levels, members of the Team will travel to major international regattas worldwide and be supported by elite-level coaches. To meet the members of the 2007 UYDT and read their bios, please visit:

www.ussailing.org/olympics/EYDT/2007/team.asp

Sponsors of the 2007 US Sailing Teams are: Rolex Watch U.S.A., Vanguard Sailboats, Nautica, Gill, Sperry Top-Sider, RIBCRAFT, Harken, New England Ropes, Extrasport, Nikon and Team McLube.