Sailing-Dutch dinghy demon Bouwmeester sets course for women’s record

MARSEILLE, France : Marit Bouwmeester of the Netherlands aims to become the most successful woman in Olympic sailing this week by winning dinghy gold to overhaul Briton Hannah Mills on two golds and a silver.
Bouwmeester’s course to this Games has been different to the ones she charted to gold in 2016, silver in 2012 and bronze in Tokyo. This time, she has her two-year-old daughter with her.
While that involves staying away from the rest of the Dutch sailors, who have already won gold in the women’s skiff and bronze in the men’s windsurfing, it also means that the 36-year-old has actually been able to get more rest.
“I stay by myself, because I stay away from the rest of the team because I have a little kid and they carry around all sorts of diseases, so I’m sort of in isolation. But it’s quite nice to be by myself, getting lots of sleep,” she told Reuters.
“She goes to bed at seven so often I miss her,” Bouwmeester said, adding that even when she did get back in time, her daughter was too busy playing to give her more than a kiss.
“She doesn’t really have any time for me,” she said joking.
The formula seems to be working for Bouwmeester who is renowned for sticking religiously to her routines. The Dutch sailor goes into the last races of the women’s dinghy series with a clear overall lead over her closest rivals.
But nothing is a given in the sport and sailors have said the conditions on the bay off Marseille have been tricky, with fluky winds funnelling around its islands.
If she does succeed in consolidating her position on Monday, Bouwmeester could have effectively wrapped up gold before the 10-boat ‘medal race’ scheduled for Tuesday by establishing enough of a points cushion that nobody can beat her.
Sailing has a scoring system where the aim is to get the lowest points across the series, with one discard allowed.
The women dinghy sailors have had to navigate delays to their schedule, an abandoned race, a day of strong winds and intense heat in the build-up to the series.
“It’s challenging, I like a challenge,” Bouwmeester said on Sunday after completing another gruelling day on the water.
“I’m just going to focus on myself and sail as best as possible,” she added when asked about her strategy.
Briton Hannah Snellgrove, who beat Bouwmeester to win two of the 11-race series, said the Dutch sailor joked afterwards that she had thought she herself was the downwind speed specialist.
Bouwmeester now has to make that speed count in her last few races, with a medal not in the bag until a series is completed.