Sixth edition of the Foiling Awards

The prizegiving ceremony of the sixth edition of the Foiling Awards took place at the Museo della Scienza e della Tecnologia Leonardo da Vinci in Milan, in front of an audience of more than 250 guests consisting of members of the Foiling Industry, journalists and project partners.

Leading the show on stage was Saily.it journalist and Social Media Manager of We Are Foiling, Francesca Frazza, together with TV host of The Boat Show and boating expert Bacci Del Buono.

After welcoming the audience and framing the Awards within the We Are Foiling events ecosystem, President and Founder Luca Rizzotti highlighted how the growing importance of the Awards can be attributed to the activity carried out by The Foiling Organization, the new network of comparison and development for the Foiling Industry and professionals worldwide conceived and promoted by We Are Foiling.

Before leaving the stage, Rizzotti recalled the tenth anniversary of Foiling Week, which will be celebrated in Malcesine, on Lake Garda, from June 26th to July 5th.

Next came the Award for the best  Foiling Motor Boat of 2022, which went to the Proteus 360 and was presented by Alberto Carriero of Torqueedo to the CFO of the Ebri Global shipyard, Oleksandr Muratov.

The most valued Sailing Team of 2022 was the one made up of Italians Ruggero Tita and Caterina Banti, Nacra 17 World Champions who have already won Olympic gold in Tokyo in 2021. The award was presented to them by Mattias Däldborg, Marketing & Communications Manager at Garmin.

Artemis Technologies' EF-24 Passenger ferry has won the Commercial Project Award as the best project of 2022 for commercial use, which Gianni Cariboni, founder and owner of Cariboni Marine Hydraulic Systems virtually awarded to Artemis Technologies Ltd. CEO Dr. Iain Percy OBE, remotely connected.

In a Down Under context, the New Zealand Consul General in Italy Austin Brick presented the Production Boat Award for production foiling boats already sailing in 2022 to Graham Porter, Partner of the Australian McConaghy shipyard which builds the ETNZ-designed AC40s and an integral part of the protocol governing the next America's Cup.

The first Water-Toy Award, presented by HiNelson Chief Growth Officer Lorenzo Zabban went to the Manta5 SL3, represented here by European Business Development Manager Rowan Gyde.

U.S. Helena Scutt, Moth World Champion 2022 in Buenos Aires, won the Female Sailor Award, virtually presented to her by Mattias Däldborg of Garmin.

Now at its third Foiling Award in six editions of the prize, Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli took first place in the One-Off category with its LEQ12 prototype. Receiving the award directly from the hands of Marcello Persico, Managing Director of Persico Marine, was Team Director and Skipper of the Italian team Max Sirena, together with Design Coordinator Horacio Carabelli, Operations Manager Gilberto "Gillo" Nobili and Matteo Ledri of the Design Team.

With the highest number of votes among Foiling Events, SailGP won the Category Award for 2022. It was presented to Jean Sebastien Chenier Proteau, CEO of Canada SailGP Team, by GAC Pindar's Founding Partner, Andrew Pindar OBE DL.

With the active support of World Sailing, present here with its Head of International Development Koray Ezer, the Foiling Pathway Award was presented for the first time, meant for the best project promoting foiling on the territory put into practice by National Federations or Sailing Clubs. It was won by the Canadian project We CAN Foil, represented here in Milan by Jean Sebastien Chenier Proteau, CEO of Canada SailGP Team, who received the award from the hands of Niccolò Bianchi, European Sales Representative of Vakaros sailing instruments.

The Pitot Tubes fluid flow measuring device developed by INEOS Britannia won the Innovation Technology award. It was collected via the web by Nat Shaver, Head of Foil Design Department of the British team. On stage in Milan was Niels Klarenbeek, Director METSTRADE.

Niels Klarenbeek was in Italy to announce an important collaboration between METSTRADE, the world's largest trade exhibition for marine equipment, materials and systems, and The Foiling Organisation, the new network of comparison and development for the global foiling industry and professionals conceived and promoted by We Are Foiling.

The partnership will lead to the creation of the first ever Foiling Technology Pavilion, entirely dedicated to foiling technology, which will be set up in the new Hall 7 during METSTRADE 2023 (Amsterdam - NL, November 15th to 17th) to showcase the Foiling Industry's hardware and technology manufacturers and connect them B2B with the visitors of the show.

METSTRADE Director said: "With the Foiling Technology Pavilion we cannot wait to unveil  the latest of our forward-thinking feature areas and we anticipate wide interest from visitors and exhibitors alike. METSTRADE has been at the forefront of providing a significant knowledge platform to highlight the developments that will move our industry's essential decarbonisation efforts from ambition to reality. It is a logical progression for us to take a leading role in partnership with The Foiling Organization to encourage the mainstream adoption of a technology that has such great potential to reduce energy consumption while increasing the pleasure of those who go afloat."

Luca Rizzotti, Founder of The Foiling Organization, commented on his part: "I am confident that the Foiling Technology Pavilion will provide a major boost to accelerate innovation and economic growth in the foiling segment to the satisfaction of all of those who will have the opportunity to take part in this showcase."

The Award for the Project still under development went to Team American Magic's Hydrogen Chase Boat in production at Bluegame, and was collected by Luca Santella, Head of Product Strategy of the shipyard.

Garmin Marketing & Communications Manager Mattias Däldborg returned to the stage to present one of the most eagerly awaited awards of the evening, that for the most voted Male Sailor of 2022, virtually handing it over to Frenchman Thomas Ruyant, winner of the last Route du Ruhm in the IMOCA 60 class aboard LINKEDOUT.

The Sustainability Award, for the 2022 initiative with the best environmental impact, was presented to the boats of the SuMoth Challenge, the challenge between engineering and naval architecture universities from around the world to design, develop and build the best performing and most sustainable boat. Delivering it to the students of the Milan and Turin Polytechnics on stage together with Challenge organiser Bruno Giuntoli was Nadia Meroni, Councillor of the Italian Sailing Federation.

With the active support of World Sailing, represented here by its Head of International Development Koray Ezer, the Foiling Pathway Award was presented for the first time, destined for the best project to promote foiling in the territory put into practice by National Federations or Sailing Clubs. It was won by the Canadian project We CAN Foil, represented here in Milan by its President Greg Johnson, who received the award from the hands of Niccolò Bianchi, European Sales Representative of Vakaros sailing instruments.Jordi Aranega, Vice President of HRC Group and CEO of Engenuity, outlined the key features of their engineering system for the characterization of composite materials with a focus on possible impact cases.

The most relevant novelty this year is undoubtedly the institution of the Forlanini Award, dedicated to the Italian foiling pioneer Enrico Forlanini, who at the beginning of the 20th century conceived and experimented with the first prototypes of hulls that rose above the surface of the water.

The 'Forlanini' is an 'Overall Perpetual Award' given by a Jury composed of awardees from previous editions to one of the Category Winners of the current edition, for the most significant contribution to the world foiling industry in terms of innovation, products, design and ideas.

The Jury was composed by: Arnaud Psarophaghis (Alinghi, Team Award 5th edition), Sue Putallaz (MobyFly, Commercial Project 5th edition), Fabio Bignolini (NLcomp, Sustainability 5th edition), Mylene Hovington (Mer Concept, One-Off and Motor Boat 5th edition), Arthur Yanai (Level Foils, Innovation 5th edition).

The first Forlanini Award was given to the SailGP event (Foiling Event Category Winner of this edition) and presented to Jean Sebastien Chenier Proteau.

On stage together with Putllaz and  Bignolini, CEO of NLcomp, Mylene Hovington, explained the awarding of the prize as follows: 'It was not an easy decision. All the projects on the short list are capable of making a substantial contribution to the Foiling Industry. We decided to award the Forlanini to SailGP because they were able to greatly expand the foiling catchment area by offering an excellent show with a high level of media exposure, while at the same time strongly emphasising their great commitment to environmental sustainability".

Before declaring the evening over, the Masters of the ceremony Francesca Frazza and Bacci Dal Buono announced the date of the next Foiling Awards, which will take place on March 14th 2024.