Veerle ten Have became a sailor by accident but will leave nothing to chance in The Hague.

The iQFOiL star was born in Haarlem, The Netherlands but grew up in Tauranga, New Zealand, which she will represent at August’s showpiece event in The Hague.

It’s a complicated route to a ‘home’ Allianz Sailing World Championships and her sailing origin story isn’t much simpler, either.

“I got into windsurfing through my brother, he did a course with school, where it was one day windsurfing, one day paddleboarding and one day sailing and he did that over the summer holidays in New Zealand,” says Veerle. 

“I was really into horse riding at the time. But then she [the horse] broke her pelvis, and I wondered what I was going to do with all this time because I can’t sit still. He told me to come windsurfing – we would always battle over whether riding was faster, or windsurfing was faster.

“I really hated windsurfing at the start, I thought it was such a stupid sport. I hated it because it was cold, and I wasn’t really into the cold, and I still don’t like sailing in the cold. That’s how I got into it and from there, I didn’t like it at first, but it grew on me, especially the racing side of things.

“The training part, I didn’t really like but the racing was so cool, I’m pretty competitive, I came second to last but that’s irrelevant. I just really enjoyed the racing and the vibe that was around.”

Having narrowly missed out on the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games in the RS:X class, Veerle has been one of the more successful early adopters of windfoiling.

She learned the demands of the new Olympic class on borrowed equipment but soon had two national titles to her name and a clutch of top 10 finishes at major events.

The 22-year-old won World Cup bronze in Palma and then finished sixth at the Paris 2024 Olympic Test Event.

Veerle is still no fan of chilly training days but has been won over by the iQFOiL lifestyle.

“I think the class is so much fun. So, you’re training, but if you are in places like Marseille or Lake Garda, that are warm and beautiful, it’s pretty easy to find motivation to train.

“Some days are harder, the cold, wet days at home but you push through. I’ve been trying to look at the cold, wet windy days as an experience, character-building.”

Veerle'’s next focus is the 2023 Allianz Sailing World Championships, and her Dutch roots will be well represented, with family and friends set to descend on The Hague to watch her compete.

There are 11 Olympic qualification places up for grabs for the women’s iQFOiL field.

“The World Championships will be a really big event," says Veerle.

“It’s the first qualifier for the Olympics and there are limited spaces but there will be heaps of girls. It will be a tough regatta because everyone will have peaked for the World Championships.

“I’ll do my best and hopefully that is in the top ten and on the podium but if I do my best, that’s all I can ask for.

“If I qualify, that will be a huge honour, we still have to go through a selection process, you don’t get automatically selected, you qualify the country. But the reaction of my family if I qualify will be ecstatic, they are my biggest supporters.”