Youth Foiling Gold Cup, Act 2: Antigua on top

The Antiguan crew, Rum Runners, snatched the overall victory in La Grande Motte on the very last double points race against DutchSail JAJO. Until then their opponents had the upper hand after winning three of the last five races. But the Antiguan team of Rocco Falcone, Filippo Amonti and Alice Cialfi took the highest step of the podium at Act 2 to secure their place in the final in Barcelona next fall.

"It was really a last minute win, after a huge fight between us and Dutch Sail and Luna Rossa Piranha. We won one, we lost one, so it was totally open until the very end. We're super stoked. The level among the finalists is very high, everyone can win and everyone makes mistakes at times. It's a fight at every mark " gushed Filippo Amonti, just seconds before popping the victory champagne.

The last day of competition was intense: light wind and threatening storm clouds for the six finalists who raced a total of 5 regattas. With the point tight and the umpires busy with many penalties, the key attitude was to be consistent and avoid mistakes. The new crew of Team France, a fine winner of two races were too inconsistent, but they leave La Grande Motte on a positive note.

"Apart from Enzo (Balanger), none of us knew the 69F and as a crew we were still learning to work with each other," explains Mathilde Lovadina. "So we are above happy to have managed to have made it to the Gold fleet!"

The other French team, Groupe Atlantic, finished just off the podium, but with no regrets.

 "Our record is not bad. And we are a little sad to miss qualifying for Barcelona which was our main objective (the first two teams of each Act meet in the final in Barcelona). But there are still a lot of positive notes, because we have a new crew line up. We are also very happy with the event, the sailing conditions were great, the 2-lap courses were great. We're wishing for more regattas like that. And finally, the level was crazy with the two boats from Luna Rossa, DutchSail and Team France. It's the best we've ever had in the 69F! ".

 
The Youth Foiling Gold Cup 69F 2023 is now half way through, only two events are missing to complete the series, one on each side of the Atlantic, Act 3 in Kingston (Canada), July 10-15, and Act 4 in Torbole (Italy), 21-27 August. There are still four tickets up for grabs for the YFGC Grand Finale in Barcelona (Spain) from November the 2nd to the 5th. At the moment the invited teams are Rum Runners (ANT) and Team JAJO – DutchSail (NED) from Act 2, and Alps Racing (CAN) and Enzedder Racing (NZL) from Act 1.

Final Ranking Act 2 Youth Foiling Gold Cup:

 
1- Rum Runners (Antigua), 

2- Team JAJO - DutchSail (NED), 

3 - Luna Rossa - Piranha (ITA), 

4- Groupe Atlantic Sailing Team(FRA), 

5- Team France Jeune (FRA), 

6 - Luna Rossa - Swordfish (ITA)

Silver Fleet after 4 races:

 
1- Clean Sailors Youth Racing Team (GER), 17.5  pts   

2- Normandy Inshore Program (FRA), 16    

3- Enzedder Racing (NZL), 15    

4- Volaire (CAN), 11   

5- HRM Racing Youth Team (POL), 5    

6- BYC - Foiling Team (GER), 5