Foiling Week 2022 regattas begin tomorrow, June 30, and until Sunday, July 3, Fraglia Vela Malcesine will host more than 200 foilers from 21 nations around the world. For the first time in nine editions, the organizers found themselves forced to impose a maximum limit on entries, confirming the growing attention this kermesse continues to receive from flying boat enthusiasts around the world.
Absolute record number of participants divided this year into 5 classes: Moth, WASZP, OneFly, ETF26 and Wingfoil.
The Moth class, which has always been the queen of Foiling Week, registers more than 70 entries and excellent names such as Ruggero Tita, Nacra Gold Medalist at the Tokyo 2022 Olympics together with Caterina Banti. Britons Dylan Fletcher, Gold in the Men's 49er class in Tokyo in 2020 and Paul Goodison, Laser Olympic Champion in 2008 in Beijing and Moth World Champion right here in Malcesine in 2017.
In the WASZP class, which was first introduced at Foiling Week in 2016, there are more than 60 athletes at the start.
Conceived for absolute speed and inspired by the multihulls of the 34th America's Cup, there will be 8 ETF26 catamarans on the starting line this year, for the third time scheduled at Foiling Week.
More than 20 athletes are registered in the Wingfoil class, the booming new board trend that combines windsurfing, kitesurfing and foiling. You fly over the water dragged by a very light inflatable structure wing standing on a very compact foiling board.
During the week, the public in attendance will have the opportunity to test sail numerous foil classes following reservations.
As for the innovative SuMoth Challenge project, in its second edition, there are four boats submitted to the final stage by as many universities: PoliTo Sailing Team (Turin, Italy), Rafale ETS Montreal (Montreal, Canada), Soton SuMoth Team (Southampton, UK), PoliMi Sailing Team (Milan, Italy). An innovative academic year-long project involving the design, planning, engineering and production of a functioning, high-performance monohull foiler boat inspired by principles of sustainability and low construction costs.
Fourteen forums are scheduled from Thursday, June 30th to Saturday, July 2nd and moderated by New York Times sailing editor Chris J. Museler.
State-of-the-art foiling, academic design, innovation, sustainability, gender equality and disability will be addressed. Moments where it will be possible to listen, ask questions and meet with certain leading experts in these areas.
Tonight at 7:30 p.m., there will be the awards ceremony of the Film Foiling Festival, a film festival dedicated to boats that fly that will be opened by the out-of-competition "premiere" of "FlyingNikka - The making of...," by Roman director Pierpaolo Lanfrancotti, which traces the genesis of the first mini-maxi foiler for offshore racing by Italian owner and skipper Roberto Lacorte. The evening is reserved for Foiling Week participants. On Saturday, July 2, it will be possible to see Foiling Film Festival films with free admission (subject to availability), again at Palazzo dei Capitani in Malcesine.