Youth Foiling Gold Cup set for Slovenia

by 69F Sailing 17 May 2022 08:25 AEST 17-22 May 2022

69F Youth Foiling Gold Cup © 69F Sailing

Eleven international teams are getting ready to compete in Act 2 of the 69F Youth Foiling Gold Cup 2022 in Slovenia. Competition will take place from 17 to 22 May in Portorož, a beautiful resort town on Slovenia's Adriatic coast.

With temperatures in the mid-twenties, the conditions are set to be very pleasant. However, more important than the air temperature is the wind speed. The bigger focus for the three-person, under-25 crews will be catching the best breeze to get their Persico 69F high-speed foilers up and flying above the surface of the sparkling Adriatic.

Back in February, at YFGC Act 1 in Miami, the battle for overall honours came down to a match race between Team Argentina and Real Team France. This time Real Team France are looking to go one better and take the top step of the Portorož podium.

69F Youth Foiling Gold Cup - photo © 69F Sailing

Pierre Boulbin, from the French team that pushed Argentina so hard, is a big fan of the Persico 69F and the challenging racing it produces. "It's a wonderful boat, it allows young sailors to sail on high performance boats and the whole circuit is very professional. There are teams coming from all over the world and we get to sail on some of the fastest boats in the world. It's a great family."

Clean Sailors Youth Racing Team are flying the German flag but are an international team that includes up and coming foiling star, CJ Perez, who has only just completed the opening round of Season 3 of the SailGP season in Bermuda. "I drove the F50 for practice, doing up and down laps and it was an incredible feeling," she said. "I'm very fortunate to be part of these foiling classes like the F50 and the 69F. One of the great things about 69F is there's such great talent across the fleet. My team, Clean Sailors Youth Racing Team, got to train for a week before I left for SailGP Bermuda and many improvements were made, so we're excited to go into Slovenia and see how we match up."

Zac Blomeley, skipper of Oceana Vivo, is looking forward to taking his team up a gear. "We did some training together as a team over winter and formed Team Oceana Vivo to compete in the 69F Grand Prix in Valencia a few weeks back. We performed well in some races and gained valuable experience. We're excited for the event and expect to be battling it out towards the front of the fleet in the YFGC in Portorož. No pressure!"

69F Youth Foiling Gold Cup - photo © 69F Sailing

The crews will do battle aboard Persico 69F boats, flying monohulls measuring 6.9 metres and equipped with foils. The boats are supplied by the organisation in order to ensure fairness across the fleet. The spectacular and high-intensity races last around 12 minutes, and take place on a quadrangle course, designed to put the crews' manoeuvring and handling skills on the foilers to the test, at speeds that can reach up to 30 knots. The teams, which must be mixed and are composed of three to four athletes, already have top results at other international sailing events and are coached by professional sailors and Olympians. Teams familiarise themselves with the racing area during the training day on 16 May. Then qualifications are scheduled 17-18 May, Knock Out rounds on 19-20 May, and Finals 21-22 May.

69F Youth Foiling Gold Cup - photo © 69F Sailing

Quotes From Other 69F Teams

"As a team, we've been practicing together, and we all feel more confident working with each other. I think that given that we are now out of school and can focus on sailing we'll be improving by leaps and bounds and that will be reflected in Portorož and this summer's 69F events." Arthur Serra, San Francisco Flyers (USA)

"The team is improving everyday, go fast and sail as simply as possible will be the key to success." Arnaud Grange, Okalys Youth Project (Switzerland)

"All the Real Ream France crew is excited to get back on the 69F, to discover Portorož! We come with the same team members as in Miami so we feel ready to do even better as well as having fun." Lou Mourniac, Real Team France (France)

"It's our second event with this team. We previously did Valencia together to train before this event in Slovenia. We have been making good use of our few days of training before the event, to train all the things we saw in Valencia. We are looking to get into the finals. And why not aim for more!" Luc Guimbertaud, Team ID Voile (France)

Entries - ACT 2 YFGC Portorož