The first phase of the 13th edition of Foiling Week has come to a close. Until July 5th, the international event continues to bring the global foiling community together in Malcesine.
Hosted by Fraglia Vela Malcesine, the programme brings together athletes, classes, designers, boat builders, companies, national federations and enthusiasts from around the world, combining racing, innovation, on-water trials, public experiences and discussions dedicated to the future of foiling.
Recognised as a World Sailing Special Event since 2021, Foiling Week has established itself as one of the world’s leading international events dedicated to foiling, reinforcing the role of Malcesine and Lake Garda as one of the sport’s most renowned international destinations.
In the Switch One Design fleet, Finley Dickinson - GBR finishes the opening phase at the top of the standings, ahead of Federico Bergamasco - ITA and Magnus Overbeck - NED. In the women’s ranking, Antonia Schultheis - MLT takes first place, followed by Camilla Svensson - DEN and Alessandra Dubbini - ITA.
In the WASZP class, Matteo Chaboud - FRA claims overall victory, finishing ahead of Mosè Bellomi - ITA and Francesco Carrieri - ITA. In the women’s division, Olivia Castaldi - ITA tops the standings, ahead of Louise Metenier - FRA and Julia Gebhard - GER.
The opening phase of the event also concluded for the BirdyFish and IODA fleets, which joined WASZP and Switch One Design in launching the sporting programme of this year’s Foiling Week.
Overall results
SWITCH ONE DESIGN
Men
1 Finley Dickinson GBR, 2 Federico Bergamasco ITA, 3 Magnus Overbeck NED
Women
1 Antonia Schultheis MLT, 2 Camilla Svensson DEN, 3 Alessandra Dubbini ITA
WASZP
Men 8.2
1 Matteo Chaboud - FRA, 2 Mosè Bellomi - ITA, 3 Francesco Carrieri - ITA
Men 7.5
1 Riccardo Billè - ITA, 2 Giuseppe Chiantera - ITA, 3 Antonie Madic - FRA
Women 7.5
1 Olivia Castaldi - ITA, 2 Louise Metenier FRA, 3 Julia Gebhard - GER
Men 6.9
1 Artur Brighenti - ITA, 2 Jacopo Andrian - ITA, 3 Daniel Evgeny Castaldi - ITA
Women 6.9
1 Elisa Bombana - ITA, 2 Imogen Green - GBR
Top U17 Men 7.5
Riccardo Billè - ITA
Top U17 Women 7.5
Tilde Kantola - SWE
Top Junior Waszp 8.2
Francesco Carrieri - ITA
Top Youth Waszp 8.2
Mosè Bellomi - ITA
Top Core Waszp 8.2
Matteo Chaboud - FRA
Top Master Waszp 8.2
Alberto Guillen Serrano - ESP
Top Super Master Waszp 8.2
Jervis Tilly - AUS
BIRDYFISH
Overall - 1 Arianna Felicetti ITA, 2 Timo Elfes & Patrick Bornikoel GER
IODA
Overall 1 Andy Voysey - GBR, 2 Bram Van Eijk NED, 3 Riccardo Pittau ITA
Top Youth Bram Van Eijk NED
During the opening phase of the event, We Are Foiling also hosted a Racing Clinic for the WASZP and Switch One Design classes, led by Head of Performance Giulia Conti in collaboration with KTOOL. The clinic brought together sailors and coaches for a dedicated programme focused on athlete development and performance in foiling disciplines.
Particularly well received by the public were the demonstrations by the fleet of solar-powered foiling boats and the SeatFoil craft, which performed a series of on-water demonstrations and a spectacular long-distance run in the waters off Malcesine’s iconic Scaligero Castle.
On July 1st and 2nd, the Foiling Sport Congress, organised by The Foiling Organization, will bring together representatives from national federations, classes, events, companies and international stakeholders to discuss the future development of foiling.
Among the highlights of the programme is the panel “The Peak of Italian Foiling”, scheduled for Wednesday, July 1st at 2:30 pm, dedicated to the extraordinary momentum currently enjoyed by Italian foiling on the international stage. Moderated by Luca Rizzotti, founder of We Are Foiling and The Foiling Organization, the discussion will feature Enrico Voltolini and Francesco Pretagostini, respectively Project Leader and Control System & Energy Manager of Ferrari Hypersail, Jana Germani, Strategist of the Red Bull Italy SailGP Team, Ambrogio Beccaria, Skipper of the IMOCA Allagrande Mapei, and Francesca Clapcich, Skipper of the IMOCA 11th Hour Racing.
Further information and the complete Foiling Sport Congress programme are available on the official website (see button below).
From Thursday, Foiling Week enters its second sporting phase with the arrival of the Moth, ETF26 and BirdyFish fleets competing as part of the Foiling Grand Prix Youth Cup. At the same time, the foiling board programme, developed in collaboration with SFT, will get underway, featuring Pump Foil, E-Foil and parawing competitions, together with the third edition of the Foiling Week Downwind Race, now one of the event’s signature appointments.
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The TP52 Hispania, the Spanish Navy’s new training boat, will be one of the major attractions at the 44th Copa del Rey Mapfre. Her debut in the Bay of Palma has generated considerable anticipation and immediately presents the team with a double challenge.
The first is purely sporting. Hispania will line up against one of the regatta’s strongest fleets in the Abanca ORC 0 class, where some of the finest TP52s and grand prix yachts on the international circuit will once again compete for victory. The yacht also carries the added pressure of defending the title, as this very same boat won the 2025 Copa del Rey Mapfre under her previous name, Vesper.
The second challenge is living up to the yacht’s own recent history. Skippered by American sailor David Team, Vesper left a lasting impression in Palma thanks to an outstanding performance that saw her dominate the class and claim overall victory in last year’s edition.
Hispania’s first outings under the Spanish Navy flag have already provided reasons for optimism. On her official debut, she narrowly defeated Vithas-Urbania to win the Conde de Godó Trophy, immediately confirming the potential of a project destined to become one of the leading references in Spanish sailing.
This weekend, Hispania will once again face several of the teams she will meet on the Copa del Rey Mapfre starting line when she competes in the SM La Reina Trophy, providing another valuable opportunity to measure her progress ahead of the summer’s main objective in the Bay of Palma.
Manu Fraga, General Manager of Real Club Náutico de Palma and the Copa del Rey Mapfre, welcomed the arrival of the Spanish Navy project: “The arrival of Hispania is excellent news for the 44th Copa del Rey Mapfre. Seeing a Spanish Navy training yacht competing in the highly competitive Abanca ORC 0 class against some of the world’s best TP52s further enhances both the sporting level and the prestige of our regatta.”
Fraga added: “What makes it even more special is that she returns to the Bay of Palma after winning here last year as Vesper. That creates great expectations among both the competing teams and the public. Having the Spanish Navy on the starting line reinforces the international, sporting and maritime character that has defined the Copa del Rey throughout its 44 editions.”
The respect for Hispania extends throughout the fleet. Málaga sailor Iñaki Castañer, sporting director of the TP52 Vithas-Urbania, believes racing against the new project will be one of the season’s biggest challenges: “We were already aware of her potential after last season and her Copa del Rey Mapfre victory. This year we had the opportunity to race against her at the Conde de Godó Trophy, and she proved to be an exceptionally tough competitor. For me, it also has a special meaning, as this season marks 40 years since I completed my military service with the Spanish Navy Sailing Commission. It’s a real pleasure to compete once again against a yacht carrying the name Hispania, a true symbol of the Navy at that time.”
Catalan sailor Toni Guiu, owner of the TP52 Blue Carbon—winner of the 2024 Copa del Rey Mapfre—shares the same view, believing Hispania’s arrival goes far beyond the sporting aspect: “Hispania is much more than just another boat on the Copa del Rey starting line. It represents a fantastic opportunity for Spain to regain prominence in top-level sailing, something our sport really needs. We need projects capable of developing crews, building experience and competing at the highest international level. Hispania is a major step in that direction.”
Guiu concluded: “As rivals aboard Blue Carbon, racing against a boat of this calibre will be a real challenge. But beyond the competition itself, Spanish sailing as a whole benefits whenever more national projects are fighting for the top positions.”
When you think of freeze-dried food, what springs to mind? A cheeky Pot Noodle? A foil pouch of steaming, odorous brown mush? Whatever it is, you’re unlikely to find it emotionally or nutritionally rewarding.
That’s what drove Giulio Bertelli to found Akta a year ago, to bring quality ingredients, balanced nutrition and emotional reward to the freeze-dried meal market.
As bowman on offshore racing boats for many years, he knew the opportunity existed. ‘The general understanding of freeze drying is not positive,’ Bertelli says, ‘but the technology is not the problem. Most of the time, it’s poor quality food with a lot of additives.
‘It takes more time, attention and precision, but our approach is that we cook as if it were a homemade stew or soup, and we freeze dry it without adding anything else. To achieve that, we had to research, but instead of solving problems by adding sugar or emulsifiers, we worked on the cuisine. Our USP is that, when looking at nutritional balance, we also look at the amount of real fibres like leaf vegetables in the casserole, to maximise digestibility and avoid constipation too, which can often be an issue.’
Akta started with five dishes and now four new savoury dishes and three breakfasts have been added, all Italian and vegetarian. The sources of recipe inspiration are as wholesome and uplifting as the dishes themselves. ‘It's a mix. One of the new recipes is rice with beans, a dish that I used to eat with my grandfather. In the future, you might come to me because you want to row across the Atlantic. If there’s something that would boost your mood on a hard night, maybe that soup that your uncle used to make? Let's try to freeze dry it. That's the service we would like to give to the extreme environment industry,’ Bertelli says.
‘From next year, we will start to introduce meat-based recipes. The longterm plan is to look at regional cuisines, French, English, Dutch, because it's the idea of a memory. It's the idea that food is not just a problem to be solved in a difficult environment, but that you look forward to that meal. That's our point.’
Tuesaday's second day of the International Dragon European Championship in Helsinki, Finland delivered two contrasting races in shifting conditions — and by the end of racing, the leaderboard had been shaken up considerably.
With a forecast of 14 knots from the southwest and two races planned, the fleet headed out for a day of racing that rewarded quick thinking, flexible tactics, and the nerve to back a side of the course when the breeze had other ideas.
Race 2 followed something of a pattern from the previous day. The first start was aborted after the pin end became dangerously crowded — a testament to the quality and aggression of a fleet where even the finest margins are fiercely contested.
At the restart, Britain's GBR192 Bluebottle got away cleanly alongside POR90 Easy and FIN99 Drak Queen skippered by Tusse Tallberg, with Bluebottle tacking early to take control of the beat.
From there, Graham Bailey and his crew managed the race masterfully, holding off a determined challenge from Portugal's POR90 throughout. Andy Beadsworth aboard TUR12 Provezza Dragon rounded out the podium in third.
Race 3 was a different story entirely. A strong start by SUI313 Free set the tone, and with the wind easing and shifting unexpectedly to the left — catching many in the fleet off guard — the race was thrown wide open.
Bluebottle suffered from a tactical miscalculation and dropped into the 30s, recovering to 20s further along. But it was Germany's GER1221 Sapphire, helmed by Jan Woortman, who recognised the left side's potential early and made the decisive move, leading at the second upwind mark and holding on to claim a well-deserved victory.
Estonia's EST99 Shin Kan Sen crossed the finish line ahead of SUI313 by the narrowest of margins — surging on a final gust and easing the spinnaker just enough to edge out SUI313.
Portugal's Michael Zankel (POR90) was upbeat at the dock after a second and a sixth that puts him in second place overall.
"Today was a really good day for us. In the first race we started well, so it was more straightforward — not that a good result is ever easy, but it was more simple. We had a good fight with Bluebottle until the end, they went really fast and we managed to stay more or less with them and finished second.
"The second race we started really badly and had to climb a lot. We had some luck — we went to the right and that paid off significantly, which helped us recover. We're really happy with the way things are going, and we love the place."
Germany's Jan Woortman (GER1221 Sapphire), winner of Race 3, was perhaps the most pleased having moved into the top spot on the leaderboard.
"We are really happy about this day and happy to be leading after today's races. In the morning there was a little more wind than we expected, and we thought the right side would pay and maybe offer less current. But the opposite turned out to be true — the left side had more pressure all day. We saw it quite early, and you always need a little luck when the side you have in your strategy turns out to be the right one."
