Please select your home edition
Edition
Leaderboard FD July August September 2023

Young Mothies at Malcesine

by Guy Nowell 12 Jul 2022 12:09 HKT 30 June - 03 July 2022
Nicolai Jacobsen, Foiling Week 2022 © Martina Orsini / Foiling Week

Foiling Week at the Fraglia Vela Malcesine has quickly become a major event in the sailing calendar. Apart from the fact that Lake Garda is a great place to go sailing (or foiling), this is an occasion that embraces ‘everything foiling’ from racing (Moths, Waszps, ETF26, OneFly, Wingfoil) to foiling try-outs, foiling forums, a foiling film festival, the SuMoth (Sustainable Moth) Challenge, and lots of socialising. It’s a whole ‘foiling festival’ in its own right, and is rated as a WS Special Event.

And there were other foilers there, even if they weren’t racing: a couple of Persico 69Fs, an FD Switch, and the double-handed ‘foiling for everyone’ Peacoq.

68 Moths were competing, and the calibre of competition at the top end of the fleet was pretty intense, which is to be expected, with Paul Goodison, Dylan Fletcher, Mattias Coutts, and Ruggero Tita hitting the starts hard and fast. A special mention, therefore, to Nicolai Jacobsen (HKG) flying the flag for RHKYC who finished 2nd overall in the fleet, just 7 points behind Dylan Fletcher (Gold medal, 49er, Tokyo 2020), 4 points in front of Mattias Coutts, and 5 ahead of three-times Moth World Champion and Laser Gold medallist (Qingdao 2008) Paul Goodison. In last month’s UK Nationals he finished fourth in a 51-boat field, just behind Fletcher. Is there a pattern here?

If there’s someone to watch right now, it’s Jacobsen. In 2018 he was Waszp European Champion at the ripe old age of 16. He placed third in the Liberty Bitcoin Moth Cup / Foiling Week in July last year, and he won the pre-Worlds in September, beating a field that included Tom Slingsby, Nathan Outteridge, Francesco Bruni and a whole host of sailing giants…. “You can’t have too much fitness,” says Jacobsen. “Look at how sailing has changed in the last 10 years… at the sharp end it has become more and more athletic, and more and more demanding. High speeds demand fast decision making. Three races a day are exhausting, and if you are under-prepared for an event like this, you know it on day one!”

There was just one race on the last day of the regatta, and we spoke to few people in the boat park before they went afloat. It was cooking hot at 10.00am; the morning ‘Peler’ breeze had been and gone, and the ‘Ora’ was yet to arrive. Garda was flat and glassy.

When you start talking to these sailors about their regatta, they tell you about two things – the ‘aero’ and the foils. There’s a whole set of design parameters in play today that didn’t exist five minutes ago. Once upon a time a fast boat was to do with minimum weight, minimum wetted surface area, ability to plane, big sails, and then hang on with your teeth. Now that the boats are no longer in the water, the aerodynamics are more important than the hydrodynamics, as long as there is enough breeze to get the thing out of the water in a heartbeat. A very niche market in Moth building just a couple of years ago has now expanded hugely - Mach2, Bieker, Exocet, Aerocet, Thinnair, and more. Minimum weight in the wings is not necessarily the goal any longer because a little weight helps heel the vessel and its rig to windward (just like a windsurfer), and at the same time it’s possible to generate lift off the wings, so it’s not only about reducing drag…

Paul Goodison is competing with a Bieker, but admits that he started the regatta “on the wrong foils. When I fixed that, everything got better, but it was too late by then.” He likes the atmosphere at Foiling Week. “Malcesine is just so buzzy,” he says. “Buzzy with new ideas, and new faces. It’s great to see a whole new sailing generation here, young people like Nicolai, and Mattias Coutts, who have grown up with foiling, and are busy giving the old guard a run for their money!”

Dylan Fletcher is at the top of the leaderboard. I wonder, how do you spot the shift when you are tearing across the water in excess of 25 knots? “You just get used to it,” he says. “Upwind we’ve been sailing at 18-20 knots this week. Last year we were sailing higher, to minimise drag, but now the newer designs (Fletcher sails an Aerocet) let us sail lower and faster – in short, there are more modes available. Dylan is parked next to Jacobsen in the boat park, and the two have been out on the water together over the past few days, and with coach Chris Rashley. “Nicolai has had a fantastic regatta,” he says. “He is very open to new ideas, which makes him coachable, and he has a great work ethic. But he also knows how to enjoy his sailing – which is pretty important.”

The youngest sailor in the boat park is Mattias Coutts (16), making Jacobsen (19) look almost old. Dylan Fletcher is the same age as both of them combined. Coutts is already a World Champion (O’Pen Skiff, 2017) and a NZ National Champion (29er, 2020), and started sailing Waszps at age 11 and Moths at 13. If foiling-sailing were a religion, the mantra would be ‘start ‘em young’.

Next up: Moth Europeans. Quiberon, France, 23-30 July. With strong breeze off the Atlantic, this could be a pretty electric event. 90 registrations from 12 countries. Put your money on the young fellers.

Related Articles

International Moth Worlds at Lake Garda Day 3
Big breeze in the morning, calm in the afternoon The third day of racing at the 2025 Moth World Championship kicked off early, with the first warning signal for the Blue fleet scheduled for 8:30 AM. Due to strong northerly winds, however, the fleet's departure was postponed to 9:00. Posted on 10 Jul
International Moth Worlds at Lake Garda Day 2
A day of waiting with no racing held The second day of racing at the 2025 Moth World Championship began with high hopes: as early as 10:00 a.m., a promising southerly breeze began to build on Lake Garda, hinting at ideal conditions for a full day on the water. Posted on 9 Jul
International Moth Worlds at Lake Garda Day 1
Storm cells circling Lake Garda lead to atypical and tricky conditions The 137 sailors representing 25 nations faced the first day of racing in conditions that were anything but typical for Malcesine, with unstable weather creating a complex, yet exciting, opening. Posted on 8 Jul
International Moth Worlds Opening Ceremony
137 sailors from 25 nations have gathered, featuring some of the biggest names in sailing After weeks of preparation and an intense lead-up, the 2025 Moth World Championship is ready to get under way. Official racing begins tomorrow, 8 July, on the waters of Lake Garda, with the event hosted by Fraglia Vela Malcesine. Posted on 7 Jul
Foiling Frenzy at Fraglia Vela Malcesine
The Moth Worlds at Lake Garda are something else! The Moth Worlds at Lake Garda are something else! Regardless of where sailors are in their careers, or the reputation they have, everyone wants to be there and have a tilt at the title. Posted on 7 Jul
Red Bull Sailing Academy Opens
A new hub for current and future superstars to reach the top of their sport Marina Monfalcone, North Italy, made waves yesterday, as sports superstars gathered to open the Red Bull Sailing Academy, marking the beginning of a new era in the sport. Posted on 6 Jul
The oldest video footage of Moth sailing
A look back into our video archive, to when the name of this class first settled down We delve into our video archive to find the oldest possible videos that show Moth racing. Are these International Moths, British Moths... or was the name still Olive, Inverloch 11ft, National Moth or Brent One-Design?! Posted on 6 Jul
International Moth Worlds begin this weekend
Pre-Worlds are under way at Malcesine From 6 to 13 July 2025, the 2025 Moth World Championship officially gets under way, hosted by Fraglia Vela Malcesine and preceded by the Pre-Worlds on 4 and 5 July. The event marks the culmination of three weeks entirely dedicated to foiling. Posted on 4 Jul
Dylan Fletcher joins #TeamMusto
The Olympian and 2022 Moth World Champion will become an ambassador for performance clothing brand The Olympian and 2022 Moth World Champion will become an ambassador for the performance clothing brand, with a specific focus on his Moth campaign. Posted on 3 Jul
Foiling Week Malcesine 2025 concludes
Champions crowned and records set during the twelfth edition The twelfth edition of Foiling Week came to an end today in Malcesine with the awarding of the first BirdyFish World Championship title, showing the largest fleet ever for the occasion. Posted on 29 Jun
Rooster 2025Barton Marine Pipe GlandsCyclops Marine 2023 November - FOOTER