CSN Interview: Carolijn Brouwer

Beyond her Olympic Tornado campaign, Winning the Texel was a great achievement,and I also put her as my choice for winning the 2012 Worlds at LA some weeks ago.Needless to say that if she goes to Rio many might be already racing for silver? I can only add that we must expect even more from her in the future.
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Texel 2012
– How was winning the Texel for the first time, and in the process marking history for girls at the event.
Carolijn Brouwer:It was an amazing and special day in lots of ways. First of all, a big thank you goes out to the organisation of the event. To postpone the event from Saturday to Sunday was a huge task but they did it and made it happen…impressive.

So, now it was up to us, to go out there and perform. It was the first time Wouter and I were back in the boat together since September last year. I guess the Texel Dutch Open was more like a warming up for the Round Texel on Sunday.

Wouter and I probably don’t sail/train as much as we would like to together but when we do sail together, we have fun and there is a very relaxed atmosphere on the boat even though we are both very competitive. Its a very good balance and I guess…. it just clicks.

Obviously we are stoked with this win. Round Texel is the World’s biggestcat race and its an honor to have our names engraved on the trophy amongst the greatest names in cat sailing history.

Everyone knows Texel, its an iconic event. We have had so many reactions from all over the world from sailors and non sailors congratulating us, its amazing. Thank you.

As for creating history being the first female to ever win Round Texel?! To be honest I didn’t know and I didn’t think about it, until someone mentioned it just after we came in on the beach.I go out sailing to win and to enjoy myself, not to mark history but if it happens, of course its great and I hope this will be an inspiration for many young (lady) sailors out there that have a dream.

– Last year you couldn´t even start the Round, what happened?
Last year was a year to forget. It was the first time I was back in the boat after having Kyle earlier that year. I was sailing the Viper with Jeroen van Leeuwen and once again we “used” the Dutch Open as a warming up for the Round, which was necessary as I was very “rusty”. Conditions on the day were similar to the conditions during the Dutch Open so it was a good training and we were confident we could do well as we had proved during the races that we could make the Viper go pretty fast.

Unfortunately we were sunk by a Prindle 16 that had no control over its rudders. It landed on our hull and its bow went through our mainsail….race over 25 minutes before it had even started.

This year, we made up for it and last year has been erased from my memory.

– In this 2012 edition you had a good start? or it was close racing with Gunnar and Coen? you led by 2 minutes right?
Our start won us the race. It feels like we had a more than perfect start.

Wouter and I had a clear plan and we stuck to it. We started on the beach side of the line and sailed down close to the coast all the way to the lighthouse.

With about 25 seconds to go, I looked around and remember thinking there were not that many boats around us, a couple just above us. Wouter was checking the line and told me we were still far from the line and we decided to go. I still remember Wouter saying a few seconds before the start:” Don’t look back, just send it” and we did.

It was a nice feeling to look back and see the whole fleet so far behind us.

Eventually we slowly saw some bigger boats to our left that had started out at sea but no sight of any other F18s.

I have no idea by how many minutes we led, but we were sailing around by ourselves with a couple of 20s ahead of us and the rest of the fleet well behind us.

For a while we were double trapezing under spinnaker towards the VC mark where its usually very shallow. Wouter told me to stop pushing too hard and

slow down a little bit as we didn’t want to take any risks. A wise decision as the first F18 behind us in the distance were the French who looked like they were getting closer but not for long as when we looked back a little later they had hit the ground hard.

All the way around we kept looking back and controlling the fleet but at no stage did we feel threatened of losing the lead on any of the F18s.

Photo: Laurens Morel

– Did you use standard C2 boards? Any new development for the C2 like sails?
The long boards are the standard boards now. Yes we did, but I don’t think that matters too much at Texel as you sail with them partly up for most of the time anyway as you are always worried about hitting the bottom.

We are always working closely with Greg and Brett at AHPC to improve the boats where we think there are gains to be made. Last year we made some minor changes to the mainsail and spinnaker which seems to be working very well for everyone. 2013 will see more improvements.

– Are you going to F18 Worlds at LA? Last year you were close to the title at Balaton, your level seems to be rising each year, how long you’ve been riding with Wouter?
For sure Wouter and I will be in LA at the F18 Worlds. We are very much looking forward to it.

Last year at Balaton, the only training Wouter and I did, was the practice race before the Worlds. To be honest, we didn’t expect to do so well, but everything seemed to fall into place. We have a fast boat and the lake conditions at Balaton suited us well.

For a while we were close to leading the Championship, but we didn’t feel we deserved to win because we had no preparation or training at all.

At the same time, in the past I have been sailing for 200+ days a year for quite a few years during my Olympic campaigns. However, Last year I sailed a maximum of 20 days all together but everyday was like a present and such a joy to be on the waterracing.

Wouter had started a new job at Procter&Gamble that year and was working very hard.

The time we had on the water was scarce so we enjoyed every minute and made the most of it.

We were not busy getting results, we were busy having fun…the results were the ‘result’ of having fun.

Wouter and I started sailing together in 2010 at the Worlds in Erquy. I was looking for a strong bigger crew to sail F18 as I myself am not that heavy and I asked Wouter if he wanted to crew for me. Wouter has always been a helm but he picked up the crewing so easily.

I believe this is what makes our combination so strong. Wouter is an extremely talented sailor and has a very good feel for the boat and I think his experience as a helm, makes him an even better crew. He basically feels what I feel on the helm, so we understand each other well and it makes communication on board very easy.

Sailing Background
– Why you decided to leave the monohull ‘heaven’ for the ‘dark side’ as many call beachcat racing?
I sailed dinghies all my life. I started sailing the Opti and then the Laser Radial. The Olympics being one of my dreams I changed to 470 to then end up in the Europe dinghy, which I think is a great boat for women.

In 2004 I went to the Athens Games in the Europe dinghy. In November 2003 ISAF removed the Europe from the Olympic programme. It was time for a new and different challenge.

I have no regrets…on the contrary. There is only one problem….once you have changed to cats, there is no way back…

– Which is your message for those who still have pre concepts on racing multis? I have found that all the naysayers have never sailed one for ie
I guess the perception with some is that cat racing is not as tactical. I think the America’s Cup change to multi’s has proven this perception incorrect and is doing wonders for the image of cat sailing within the sailing community.

Photo: www.Bootinbeeld.nl

– Which class do you think is a good feeder for having more females racing multis?
Naturally I would say Viper as this was the main factor we got involved with AHPC but there are enough smaller cats out there that are perfect for young girls to sail.

– Do we need multi feeder classes in the whole life cycle of the sailor,xor its better for them to start in Optis, then 420 or other and then only cats?
Unfortunately the Dutch federation does not have any youth cat development.

They have a high performance youth squad in 29ers and this is seen as the feeder class for multis.

The French and Belgians on the other hand have a strong history in youth cat sailing and we can see some very talented youth sailors emerging from their successful programs.

– Are we having any other girl helms on the rise? I know about the Sicouri sisters for ie, any other? I’m seeing a lot of Audrey Ogerau now.
For sure there are talented girls out there that are perfect for cat sailing. And I’m sure that with multihull back in the Olympics as a mixed discipline we will see many girls arising in different parts of the world.

Lara and Sylvia Sicouri are a good example. These girls are very talented and have already shown they can perform well on their Viper and Hobie16 at big international events. I hope we will see much more of them in the future.

France has a long history in cat sailing and they have always had a very successful development squad in multis, so for sure we will see many new teams and many talented girls arising. I think with the Olympic boat that has been chosen we will see in the end it will be girls helming and guys crewing. I’m not sure where all these girls will come from as girls are in a luxurious position as there are so many opportunies in Olympic sailing with Laser, 470 and now skiff and Multihull.

Olympics

– Any comments on those accusing you on “lobbying” for the Olympic Trials? It seems you didn´t lobbied ”’hard enough”’ as many said it was all fixed before hand…
CB: The people making these accusations obviously think they know me, but they don’t know me at all. Their accusations say more about themselves than about me. I think its a lack of respect towards fellow sailors to write these things. In the end it was those making the accusations that were working for their own interests.

I was involved with ISAF well before I started sailing multihulls.

Funnily enough during the period that I was the Tornado class president, nobody complained.

I fought so hard for multihull to get back in the Olympic program and in the end all I got was stabbed in the back. It will be interesting to see who now will defend multihull in ISAF. I have been attending ISAF meetings for eight years and I wonder if people realise how much work is involved with being part of ISAF committees. I spend a lot of my free time doing work for ISAF. Maybe it’s time for someone else to step up.

– The weakness of the Viper in my view was somehow not ideal for an Open option in the future.
Open is not an option for the future.
The cat sailing community needs to fight for a Men and Womens spot for the 2020 Olympics.

The main discussion within ISAF is elite vs universality. I guess you could say the N17 is the elite and the Viper is universality.

ISAF obviously sees mixed multihull as an elite event in the Olympics.

– I like the idea of having a 2nd olympic spot in the future, is that possible in your view?
At the ISAF Mid Years meeting last year in St Petersburg, I was invited to speak in the name of the Dutch federation at Council and I supported Men’s and Women’s multihull and not mixed.

Like I said, I don’t think the cat sailing community should consider an Open option. We should fight for two spots. It would be nice to think we could get two spots but reality is we need to fight to maintain a multihull in the Olympics. If the classes were decided again tomorrow I would say multihull would go out again. People don’t want to hear this but multihull has not learnt from why we got kicked out in November 2007. Multihull today is by far the weakest Olympic Event. Currently keelboat, windsurfing and matchracing are all out of the Olympic program and will be fighting to regain a spot in the Olympic slate. All three of these are politically strong in ISAF. No doubt multihull is the weakest target. So the lesson learnt from the 2007 decision is multihull needs strong united representation within ISAF and as it stands today we still don’t.

– Are you campaigning for Rio ? do you have a Belgian crew already?
NEVER SAY NEVER. At the moment I have a good balance in my life with my sailing, my family and work. I’m not sure I want to turn all this upside down.

Rio is a very special place for me as I spent most of my childhood there. So it would nearly be like a home Olympics for me but I don’t think this is enough to base a campaign on.

– Until the N17 fleet take form, the F18 & F16 will be the place to be for those with Olympic goals?
Yes, we have sold a lot of Vipers to mixed teams recently and we are getting a lot of interest in the F16 Euros which are just around the corner.

– Being mom now is harder than the old days, but It is necessary to embark in a super tough campaign now? or racing some races in the F18 circuit among the F16 and the official ISAF events will do?
CB: If I consider doing another Olympic campaign, I would not start straight away and I would not go back to doing 200+ sailing days a year. I have been there and done it and it didn’t work for me this way.

I sailed 20 days last year but everyday was like Christmas and this is how it should be. So, I would need to search for a better balance.
Life is also different now, being a mum.

Aus A-Class 2012

Future
– You raced the Australian A-class nats, how was it?
The A class is a great boat! It sort of started as a joke. Jeroen, Darren’s crew on F18, spent the Christmas holidays with us in Aus. Both of them had As and were training hard for the Nationals. They would leave the house in the morning to go sailing, come home at 19pm and say “whats for dinner mum?”

I then realised I was doing something wrong and the day before the practice race, the A sailors were running around organising bits and pieces to make a complete boat for me (thanks guys!). I decided to do the practice race and go from there. It was a typical sea breeze day at Wangi blowing 20+ knots

from the NE. I kept the boat upright and in one piece and decided I had qualified to race the whole week.

The A class is a great boat , I was a little (a lot) on the light side but that didn’t stop me from enjoying the boat. I didn’t have a DNA with curved foils but I had a boat that did the job for me and I had a soft mast and a flat sail.

The A class is one big family and I felt very much at home. There were around 70 competitors and I finished I think 27th or 28th so I was happy.

Next steps beyond the ACat?
I would love to continue racing, but I would struggle to fit it in as life has been pretty busy. I am enjoying sailing the C2 and the Viper but if the opportunity ever comes along again I would be more than happy to jump back on an A.

—ENDS—
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