Sailor Thijs Visser "I grew up on the multihull beach"

As a baby Thijs Visser already slept in a sailbox. He’s sailed multihulls all his life and is now sailing the Nacra 17 with Mandy Mulder, silver medalist in the Yngling at the Olympics in Beijing. His biggest dream is to get a medal in a multihull at the Olympics.

What multihulls did you sail before the Nacra 17?
“I grew up on the multihull beach and at the age of nine I already crewed on a Nacra Inter 20 with spinnaker. I had to sail in the Optimist first to learn sailing, but rather liked the cat. In 2007 I chose the F18 and the first season I ended in sixth place, I was only seventeen then. I then started sailing with Coen de Koning (sailing the Nacra 17 now with Elke Delnooz). In 2009 we became world champions and I was the youngest world champion ever in the F18. We sailed together for four years, before we both stepped into the mixed Nacra 17. I graduated this year and since then I am sailing full time in the Nacra 17 with my helm Mandy.

What do you expect from the Nacra 17 Worlds?
We are looking forward to racing in the Worlds. We have been training a lot here in Scheveningen. Our goal is to finish in the top 8, so then I get the A-status of the Dutch Sailing Federation. Mandy already has that, because she won a medal in Beijing. For us it’s fun to have the Worlds in our own country. You can speak your own language and you know everything. That doesn’t happen to often. We are hoping for some more wind this week, because we’re better then.

What are your best results?
My best results are: world champion in F18, world champion in Nacra Infusion, winner Princes Sofia World Cup Nacra 17 this year in Mallorca with Mandy and four national titles in different multihull classes. I also was sailor of the year in 2009 and won the Conny van Rietschoten Trofee, a prestigious trofee in the Netherlands.

Text: Marjolein Brandt
Photo: Thom Touw