Foiling Week 2015

All that sails and is airborne to return to Lake Garda in July

Following the inaugural event held on Lake Garda last July, the Foiling Week 2015 will this time consolidate itself in one location, held over five consecutive days - from Wednesday, 1 July until Sunday, 5 July.

The event which gathers foiling craft of all sorts, will have the same format as last year with Forums in the morning and the on water activities in the afternoon with a Foiling Expo taking place throughout the week.

On the water activities during the first three days will alternate between One Design races, an Invitational Kitefoil event and over the weekend, two long distance races.

One Design classes taking part will include for the Flying Phantom, the French cat launched in 2012 and used as training craft by several America's Cup teams. The Foiling Week 2015 will be the third leg of the Flying Phantom Series 2015 circuit.

The International Moth class will be once again attending. The event will be the Italian leg of the Moth EuroCup circuit where Moth sailors will compete in seven events on the best of Europe's sailing venues. Competitors are likely to include several sailors from the US and Australia.

The Kitefoil Invitational Contest, in cooperation with the International Kiteboarding Association, will be held in parallel with the One Design races during the first three days of Foiling Week. Sailors will be selected directly by IKA taking the names from the international kitefoil ranking.

International Kiteboarding Association President, Mirco Babini, personally supports the presence of the Kitefoil at Foiling Week 2015. "It will be quite a challenge against all other flying boats who want to demonstrate their top performance."

On Saturday 4th and Sunday 5th July, a long distance race will take place on a course of approximately 25-30 miles around Lake Garda taking in Malcesine, Campione and Torbole. The two races are open to any flying boat and will be scored on elapsed time without compensation but with boats also grouped into classes.

During the week several prototypes and production boats will take turns on the water, including The Q2a of Quadrofoil and V20 of Vripack. These two boats are hydrofoil boats driven by electric motors, not by sails. In particular, the V20 is electric-solar powered. It is possible to achieve very interesting speeds with minimum power and great economy of energy thanks to the efficiency of the hydrofoils.

TFW Speed Contest

Over the five days the flying boats out on the water - whether they are racing or not - will be ‘tracked’ by GPS that will measure and record the 'the best 10 second average speed'. Daily results will be drawn up of the best speeds and at the end of the week the fastest will be awarded with the TFW Speed Contest trophy, won last year by Simone Vannucci from ASD Kitefoil.

On shore activities

This will involve two distinct events:

The TFW Forum: Following the success of the inaugural Foiling Week TFW Forum confirms a programme of highly advanced topics. The best designers, engineers and manufacturers will present to a selected audience, the strengths, the progress and guidelines for the future of what we like to call 'the third mode of sailing': Foiling.

TFW Foiling Expo: In the boat park at Fraglia Vela Malcesine, ground space has been made available to showcase boats, kites and products for foiling. Visitors will be able to try the boats and sample the products. During the Foiling Expo, prototypes and production boats, not involved in the regattas, will be visible on shore and on the water. Many crews taking part in long distance races on Saturday and Sunday will be on the water on the previous days to optimise the development of their boats and simultaneously participate in the TFW Speed Contest.

The Fraglia Vela Malcesine is co-organiser of the regattas and the host venue of the TFW Forum and the TFW Foiling Expo.