The future of wingfoiling racing is looking bright! The first X-15 Class events of the 2024 season took place in Como, Italy, and Kiel, Germany, bringing together talented young sailors and professional coaches for two weeks of intensive training and racing. Despite challenging weather conditions, the participants showed remarkable skill and enthusiasm, honing their skills and pushing the limits of this exciting new discipline. With a focus on inclusivity, support, and top-notch equipment, these events marked a significant milestone in the growth of wingfoiling, showcasing the potential of the next generation of wingfoilers and one-design racing.
X-15 Class Manager Fiona Wylde reports back;
We have just finished our first two X-15 Class U19 events of the year and what an exciting two weeks it was!
The goal of these two X-15 Class events was to create inclusive racing with professional coaching and support along X-15 wingfoil one design equipment provided free of charge for the young wingfoilers. In order to grow the sport, we need to host training events and races like this.
First, we started in Lago di Cómo, Italy at the club Marvelia Dongo. The program was three days long with training session all day Friday and also Saturday morning before participating in the Italian Championships in the afternoons. The kids were fantastic to work with and really enjoyed Lago di Cómo. It is an absolutely stunning place to be! The weather was very tricky and we had to navigate thunder storms, lots of rain, and finally some good breeze. When the breeze showed up, the sailors were ready to jump on the water. On the water we worked on race strategy, control, and maneuvers.
Following Dongo, we drove to Kiel, Germany for the X-15 Class training and demo racing at the infamous @kielerwochesailing. Kiel Week is the oldest sailing regatta in the world, and our X-15 Class event was the first Wingfoil event included in Kiel Week, ever. Once again we had difficult weather to navigate, but we had 26 eager wingfoilers to get on the water each day, so we made it happen! Dodging more thunderstorms, and sailing through rain, we held two training days followed up by two racing days. The program in Kiel was broken into three categories with wingfoilers working respectively with their coaches. We had one group for beginner never-ever wingfoilers, intermediate wingfoilers ready to race, and advanced wingfoilers with race experience. Each group worked directly with their coach, so we could help the wingfoilers improve at their speed, and give direct feedback in small coaching groups. Some kids in the beginner never-ever wingfoil group foiled on the first day, it was phenomenal!
We completed eight downwind slalom races during Kiel Week, allowing the wingfoilers to practice their newly developed skills in a race environment.
To make this happen, we had a big team in both Italy and Germany that facilitated getting kids on the water for safe high performance X-15 training and racing. The equipment was provided for free and there were no entrance fees to these events, hoping to make the new X-15 Class with Wingfoil one design equipment as accessible as possible.
Big thank you to our Italian Team: APM, Carsten Kurmis, Gianpiero Venè, Sebastiano Vannini, Niccolò Bianchi, Vakaros Sailing, Marvelia Sailing Club, Georgia Scofield, Saskia Sills, Svein Rasmussen, Mayar Rasmussen
Big thank you to our German Team: APM, Elías Ouahmid, Clement Colmas, Aina, Saskia Sills, Foivos Tsoupras, Lena Erdil and the Team at Point of Sailing, Svein Rasmussen, Mayar Rasmussen, Jan and the KiWo Race Officer Team.
We have two events coming up soon:
- X-15 Class at the German Championship in Fehrman, Germany July 12-14. Event link here >
- X-15 Racing and Training with coaching support at the Scottish Fin + Foil in Stranraer, Scotland August 7-11, 2024. Event link here >
Register soon before the spots fill up!
