Malcesine on Italy's Lake Garda – one of The Foiling Organization's 'Foiling Capitals – hosted the 13th edition of Foiling Week, the world’s leading international event dedicated to foiling.
For nine days, Fraglia Vela Malcesine welcomed a diverse audience of sailors, teams, designers, boat builders, companies, event organisers, national federations, partners, media and foiling enthusiasts from around the world, reinforcing the role of Lake Garda as one of the world’s foremost destinations for high-performance sailing and foiling.
Public participation exceeded even the most optimistic expectations. Thanks to the renewed collaboration between the Regione del Veneto, the Municipality of Malcesine and Destination Verona & Garda Foundation, together with the expanded programme of Foiling Week Experiences, residents and visitors had the opportunity to experience foiling first-hand through on-water activities, technical visits, demonstrations, simulators and meetings with athletes, designers and innovators.
Once again, Fraglia Vela Malcesine proved instrumental to the success of the event. Operational partner of Foiling Week since its inaugural edition in 2014, the Club’s staff, volunteers and numerous technical partners, both onshore and on the water, played a fundamental role in delivering the sporting programme, public activities and overall event operations.
Among the highlights of the second half of the week was the spectacular ETF26 competition, which featured twelve intensely fought races and remained undecided until the very end, with just two points separating the top two teams. France’s Entreprises du Morbihan claimed its fourth consecutive Foiling Week title, ahead of fellow French teams Team Pro and Blueshift Sailing Team, completing an all-French podium.
The Moth fleet once again delivered world-class racing. In the women’s standings, reigning World Champion Victoria Schultheis (Malta) claimed victory ahead of France’s Paola Amar. Overall honours went to Croatian Olympic gold medallist Šime Fantela, followed by Australians Otto Henry and John Harris. Widely regarded as the benchmark class in modern foiling, the Moth once again confirmed its role as the technological and competitive laboratory of high-performance sailing.
Competition also concluded for the BirdyFish, WingFoil and Starboard X15 fleets, completing a sporting programme that successfully represented the full spectrum of today’s foiling disciplines.
Foiling board disciplines continue to experience unprecedented growth, confirming themselves as one of the fastest-growing sectors of Foiling Week. Developed in collaboration with SFT, the 2026 programme culminated with the third edition of the Foiling Week Downwind Race, which attracted a record number of competitors. Winners were Teodoro Rofrano (Italy) in the Foil Assisted category, Tom Rofrano in Parawing, Marnie Bertram in SUP, and Sergi Sanchez (Spain) in WingFoil.
Alongside the racing programme, the second edition of the Foiling Sport Congress, organised by The Foiling Organization, brought together representatives from national federations, classes, events, companies and international stakeholders to discuss the future development of foiling.
Among the most anticipated sessions was “The Peak of Italian Foiling”, moderated by Luca Rizzotti, President of The Foiling Organization.
The panel featured Ambrogio Beccaria (Allagrande Mapei), Francesca Clapcich (11th Hour Racing), Jana Germani (Red Bull Italy SailGP Team), Enrico Voltolini, and Francesco Pretagostini (Ferrari Hypersail), together with Daniele Savoldi (Persico Marine), exploring the factors behind Italy’s remarkable rise in international foiling and what will be required to turn today’s success into long-term global leadership.
Another widely attended session was “Who Tells the Foiling Story?”, moderated by Viola Devoti, America’s Cup Marketing Executive and Social Media Manager at We Are Foiling, featuring Ed Russo, Director – Sailing Grand Slam / SOF Hyères, and Andy Rice, journalist and podcaster (The Foil – Racing Media, The Athletic and The New York Times).
The discussion focused on the international communication of foiling, the fragmentation of media rights and the strategies required to expand the sport’s global audience. During the session,The Foiling Organization officially announced the launch of the Foiling & Sailing Media Meeting, a new international forum for journalists, broadcasters, content creators, rights holders and communication professionals, to be held on October 5th during the 66th Genoa International Boat Show.
With the conclusion of its 13th edition, Foiling Week further strengthens its evolution from a sporting event into an international platform where competition, innovation, education, industry, communication and local communities come together. A journey that continues to grow alongside the global foiling community, confirming Malcesine as the natural home of this unique universe.
Yacht Racing Life is a reader-supported subscription website about high-performance competitive sailing. Sign up for free to receive our email newsletter or take out a paid subscription to access exclusive member-only content.
After two years of design and construction, Boris Herrmann and his Team Malizia are celebrating the launch of their highly anticipated new IMOCA race yacht, Malizia 4.
Built for the next generation of offshore racing, the boat will carry the team into upcoming editions of The Ocean Race and the Vendée Globe, combining cutting-edge technology with the experience gained from years of racing around the world.
Today at 07:38 local time, Boris Herrmann and Team Malizia celebrated a major milestone as their new IMOCA race yacht, Malizia 4, touched the water for the first time in Lorient, France. The launch marks the beginning of the team's next sporting chapter after two years of design and construction involving over 150 people and over 85,000 hours of work.
"Today is a very emotional day for all of us," said Boris Herrmann, skipper of Team Malizia as he was surrounded by many of the people who have put hundreds of hours in designing and building the boat. "For months we have watched Malizia 4 take shape from drawings to being built piece by piece, and now seeing her finally in the water is very special. I'm incredibly proud of the team and what we have achieved. It makes me ecstatic to see her."
Following the splash near the CDK shipyard in Lorient La Base, Malizia 4 will use its brand new engine to go to the nearby Quai Papin, where operations will continue at 08:30 with the installation of the mast, boom, outriggers and rigging. Once the boat is at Quai Papin, the public is welcome to watch the operations from a safe distance.
From noon onwards, the team will carry out a series of static tests, applying loads to the boat to verify that all systems are responding as expected. They will conduct the IMOCA class' mandatory 90-degree stability test either tomorrow morning at 08:30, before beginning preparations for the yacht's first sea trials in the coming days.
"A boat is not only a machine, it's also something that you have an emotional relationship with", added Boris Herrmann. "I'm already seeing it now. I find her so beautiful with her aggressive lines and distinctive Malizia colors, and I'm already very excited for the first sensations when we start sailing. I feel that with the other sailors too, everyone is really eager now to get on the water."
American match racing star Chris Poole and his Riptide Racing crew reclaimed the GKSS Match Cup Sweden title on Saturday, while France’s Pauline Courtois/ Match in Pink successfully defended the Nordea Women’s Trophy, bringing a spectacular week of world-class match racing to a thrilling conclusion in Marstrand.
Racing in a fresh 16-knot westerly breeze, the championship finals showcased the very best of international match racing in front of a large crowd of spectators lining Marstrand’s famous granite shoreline.
Poole and his Riptide Racing crew of Adam Minoprio, Mal Parker and Luke Payne defeated local favourite Sweden’s Oscar Engström and Liros Racing 3-1 to lift the Match Cup Sweden trophy for the second time, adding the 2026 title to the crown they first won in 2024.
The victory completed an impressive comeback campaign for the American team. After a modest opening to the regatta, Poole and team steadily gathered momentum through the knockout rounds, eliminating defending 2025 champion Denmark’s Jeppe Borch in the quarterfinals before defeating France’s breakout skipper Ange Delerce in the semifinals and Engström in the championship match.
“It has been an interesting week for us, it didn’t start as well as we expected but we fought our way through with a really good fight with Jeppe Borch in the quarterfinals and then Ange Delerce in the semi” commented Poole. “Oscar put on a tough match for us in the finals but we are delighted to win again here, and on 4 July – I’m proud to fly the Stars and Stripes with our win.”
For Engström, the runner-up finish caps the strongest performance of his career in Marstrand. The Swedish skipper thrilled home supporters throughout the week, topping the round robin standings to earn direct passage to the semifinals before defeating fellow Swede Johnie Berntsson to reach his first GKSS Match Cup Sweden final.
Earlier in the day, Berntsson secured third place by defeating France’s Ange Delerce Sailing Team 2-0 in the petit final.
Although just missing the podium, Delerce emerged as one of the revelations of the championship. Competing in Marstrand for the first time, the French skipper reached the semifinals after eliminating seven-time Match Cup Sweden champion Björn Hansen, announcing himself as one of the rising stars of the World Match Racing Tour.
In the Nordea Women’s Trophy running parallel with the Match Cup, the final produced another outstanding match as Pauline Courtois and her Match in Pink crew of Maëlenn Lemaitre, Laurane Mettraux and Théa Khelif successfully defended the title they won in 2025 with a 3-1 victory over Sweden’s Martina Carlsson and Beyond Racing.
Carlsson entered the final as the standout performer of the regatta after an extraordinary unbeaten run through the round robin and semifinals, winning nine consecutive races to earn the Beyond Sailing team’s place in the title decider.
But Courtois and her long-standing team once again demonstrated why they remain one of the world’s premier match racing teams, producing a composed and tactically flawless performance to successfully defend their Marstrand crown.
“We are very happy of course to defend our title” added Courtois “We knew we were sailing against a popular local team and Martina [Carlsson] and her team have been sailing very well this week, but we were also fast today and it is great to get the win again”
The battle for third place went to another Swedish crew, with former champion Anna Östling and WINGS Sailing defeating Denmark’s Lea Richter Vogelius and WOW Racing 2-0.
As the podium teams took to the stage in front of a packed spectator crowd, the prize giving ceremony brought a close to another successful GKSS Match Cup Sweden and Nordea Women’s Trophy, this year celebrating its 32nd edition.
The World Match Racing Tour now moves to Porninchet in France at the end of the month followed by the US Grand Slam events in Chicago, Detroit and New York.
The Tour then returns to Europe in September for events in Dublin and Poland, before the Bermuda Gold Cup championship event in October and the brand new WMRT Final in AMAALA, Saudi Arabia from 10-14 November.
