An action-packed Foiling Week 2021
by Foiling Week 9 Jul 2021 21:25 NZST
1-4 July 2021
Tom Slingsby at Foiling Week 2021 © Martina Orsini / Foiling Week
Foiling Week 2021 has come to a close after an action-packed 4-day weekend of racing, forums as well as multiple initiatives. All of the regattas were supported by Sailmon Instrument with 5 classes involved: Moth, Waszp, ETF 26, Onefly and Wing Foil.
The Moth racing in partnership with Liberty Bitcoin Fund saw a fleet of 58 boats give life to spectacular action on the water, with Tom Slingsby from Australia taking the event win after a near-flawless performance. Italy's Ruggero Tita came second, and Hong Kong's Nicolai Jacobsen took third.
Female and male sailors competed together with awards given to the top three women; Lisa Schweigert came in first, followed by Franziska Mäge and Marie Soler.
The 30-strong Waszp fleet was won by Paul Hameeteman, followed in second by Charles Cullen and in third Jeppe Borch. For the women, Margherita Porro from Italy got first, Nora Dosksrød from Norway second and Mathilde Robertstad also from Norway third.
The OneFly fleet saw Aymeric Blin from Switzerland come away with the win, followed by France's Samuel Lelievre and Sébastien Aubord also from Switzerland.
Amongst the ETF 26, the ABC Enterprise du Morbihan team from France took the event win, Youth Foiling Team also from France came second and Toroa from England came third.
The WingFoil racing saw Francesco Capuzzo from Italy come away with the win after a very strong showing; Riccardo Zorzi from Italy took second and Pietro Leon Kiaulehn took third; Pietro Migliorini was first of the grandmasters.
The wing foils also took part in an Air Style competition where Riccardo Zorzi took first place, Francesco Capuzzo second and Stefan Spiessberger third.
With a focus on youth as well as promoting sustainability, accessibility, and safety, the three Foiling Weeks pillars, Stages 1 and 2 of 2021 Foiling SuMoth Challenge, sponsored by 11th Hour Racing, took place during the event.
Polito Sailing Team (Politecnico di Torino; Italy) took the win on the Stage 1 design phase followed by PoliMi (Politecnico di Milano; Italy) in second place and Rafale ETS (ETS Montreal; Canada) in third. It was a close battle as all teams had innovative ideas in both the sustainable and technological plan for their sustainable Moth concepts. With great commitment and passion, PoliTo managed to complete and sail test their SuMoth Concept "Keth" and set the first speed record in the SuMoth era and taking home the 2021 SuMoth Challenge Stage 2 prize.
All regatta prizes were made from recycled carbon fibre composites supplied by our partner Microtex composites; a big thanks also go out to Gac Pindar, our logistics partner, Helly Hansen, our official clothing partner, our sustainability partner Torqeedo and Polynt.
The Foiling Week forums, sponsored by Gurit Group, in co-partnership with Persico Marine, brought up some interesting discussion subjects including; the accessibility of the new Olympic foiling classes, the future of America's Cup from designers and organizational point of view including Guillaume Verdier, Aaron Young and Robert Bicket, the World Sailing Speed Record with SP80 and Syroco, open discussion about gender equity with the Magenta Project members, the future of electric foiling transportation with key players in the field and a sustainability discussion with the SuMoth Challenge teams and NorthernLight composites along with many others that can be seen in replay on all Foiling Week social media channels (Facebook/Youtube).
But that's not all that went down at Foiling Week 2021; many people felt for the first time the joy of foiling thanks to the Manta5 electric foiling bikes from New Zealand or the Lift electric foil boards.
Some even had their first taste of flight through the WASZP trials, in collaboration with Europasail, or foiling RS Aero and Wind Surf Foiling supported by the Andrew Simpson Watersport Center Lake Garda.
Also, in collaboration with the Magenta Project, the daily briefings hosted by Liv Mackay, Margherita Porro and Franziska Mäge helped create a closer group of female sailors in foiling so that in the future there can be more and more women interested in the sport thanks to the support of others competing.
All in all, the Foiling Week 2021 helped bring positivity back to the foiling community so hopefully, we will see more and more events soon; Foiling Week still has a lot of exciting news on events and initiatives to deliver in the near future so stay tuned, but for now, we'll see you at Foiling Week 2022.
Find out more at www.foilingweek.com