Ingrid Petitjean & Olivier Backes will campaing for Rio 2016

Images: Philippe Michel — The questioned mandatory Mixed multihull slot for Rio is bringing some interesting and unexpected teams to the game.

We all know who Olivier Backes is by now, a Tornado Olympic campaigner and double F18 World Champ (2010/2012) , but not many knew he is married with Ingrid Petitjean, 2010 470 World Champ and Olympic sailor too among a long list of achievements.

Now they have decided to join forces on the water to start training on the new Olympic cat, the  Nacra 17. They made their official presentation on Monday so now we can spread the news.  I guess they will race in the F18 too as many other mixed teams will do for their 2016 project.

Olivier made some comments on their first ride in choppy conditions:
“We came last Friday to Nacra Europe in Scheveningen to try the new Olympic class, the Nacra 17. Even though the weather was not ideal ( 5 degrees, rain and strong wind), we had good fun sailing in the Nacra 17 together!

The boat feels good, it’s closer to an F18 than a Viper, the main difference are the curved centerboards, it s’ going to be a little tricky to find the right position of them to be able to have a fast and safe boat.

The class rules have just been posted last Friday, and the class association will be done early 2013.”

With Audrey Ogerau / Matthew Vandame (F18 World Champ 2012 with Olivier) plus  Franck Cammas aiming for Rio (more on that later) , France will have a strong team chasing for a medal in 2016.
Hope Carolijn can campaign also to have a super competitive Mixed event.