Four Easy To Fly (ETF) at the Garda Foiling Week

For the first time since its launch, the ETF Class will attend the Garda Foiling Week !  The monotype foiling catamaran was created by French skipper Jean-Pierre Dick.  The latter will be at the helm of ETF « ABC Arbitrage - Ville de Nice » and compete against 3 other ETF.

Designed by naval architect Guillaume Verdier, winner of latest America’s Cup, the ETF was conceived to fly with 8 knots of wind and with its 3 crewmembers on board.  Launched end 2016, ETF currently sail on the European waters, 4 in Switzerland, 2 in Germany, one in Denmark and one in France.

The ETF have a European championship consisting of 5 qualifying races: the ETF Series 2018. The Garda Foiling Week will be the 4th stage and promise to be a hard battle for the podium amongst the participants, only separated by 7 points.

Jean-Pierre Dick “I am very happy to attend the Garda Foiling Week.  Lake Garda is a hot spot for foilers and a breathtaking sailing scenery.

I imagined a human-sized flying catamaran, in between a dinghy and an extreme, in order to provide non-professional teams with the adrenaline of flying.

This year we are rolling out the ETF Series, it is an important step towards the creation of a dynamic class and we are happy Garda Foiling Week is part of it.”

The ETF present at the Garda Foiling Week 2018:
-    Luna (SUI) / Skipper : Guillaume Girod
-    Tixwave (SUI) / Skipper : Bernard Vananty
-    Cool Runnings (DEN) / Skipper : Thorlikd Junker
-    ABC Arbitrage - Ville de Nice / Skipper (FRA) : Jean-Pierre Dick

Rankings of the ETF Series after 3 qualifying races :
1st LUNA (SUI): 7 points
2nd ABC ARBITRAGE VILLE DE NICE (FRA) : 7 points
3rd TIXWAVE (SUI) : 8 points
4th COOL RUNNINGS (DEN) : 9 points
5th STE-CATHERINE (GER) : 14 points

ETF SERIES 2018 : 5 qualifying races in Europe
1.    Grand Prix de Nice (FRA) : May 1st-6th
2.    Grand Prix de Suisse (SUI): May 31st June 2nd
3.    Bol d’Or Mirabaud (SUI) : June 9th
4.    Garda Foiling Week (ITA) : June 28th July 1st 
5.    Martinique Flying Regatta (Fort de France) : November 17th – 24th

Specifications:
Concept : Jean-Pierre Dick
Architect : Guillaume Verdier

Jean-Pierre Dick

After 16 years sailing the world’s seas and taking part in 4 single-handed round the world races, Jean-Pierre Dick has clocked up 6 wins in the IMOCA class. 

He is the only record-holder for the number of wins in the Transat Jacques Vabre, 4, the most recent in 2017 with Yann Eliès. In November 2017, he decided to change his boat to fly on the Easy To Fly.

His main wins :

2 Barcelona World Races:
•    2008 with Damien Foxall
•    2011 with Loïck Peyron **

4 Transat Jacques Vabre races:
•    2003 with Loïck Peyron
•    2005 with Nicolas Abiven
•    2011 with Jérémie Beyou
•    2017 with Yann Eliès