TF35 Nyon Grand Prix at Société Nautique de Nyon - Day 1
by TF35 Press 24 May 08:34 AEST
23-25 May 2025
TF35 Nyon Grand Prix 2025 Day 1 © Loris von Siebenthal
The opening day of the 2025 TF35 season on Lake Geneva saw the six cutting-edge foiling catamarans ghost their way around the racecourse in a delicate 5-knot breeze, completing two races.
Making a sparkling debut in the fleet, Marco Favale's X-WING was consistently in the leading pack and finishes the day in second place overall. Despite being a new team, Favale is joined on board by a seasoned crew—tactician Manu Dyen and America's Cup veterans Nicolas Charbonnier, Lucien Cujean, Yves Detrey, and Arthur Cevey.
"I started the day feeling a lot of pressure, because there are some very experienced crews out there, with far more hours of sailing than we have. So I was really hoping we wouldn't be picking up the buoys. We had unstable conditions, but we performed pretty well overall. We're proud and quite happy to be in this position." says Marco Favale, skipper and helm of X-WING.
After a three-hour delay ashore waiting for the breeze to settle over a glassy Lake Geneva, racing finally got under way at 14:50. X-WING's day got off to a challenging start, shooting the pin end of the line too early and being shut out by Julien Firmenich's Ylliam 17 as the start gun went. A quick gybe and duck through the fleet for clear air, followed by a smart tack back onto starboard, put them in a strong position to round the windward mark in second place, just behind Ylliam 17.
Downwind, the fleet headed left while Bertrand Demole's Ylliam XII - Comptoir Immobilier broke to the right, a move that leapfrogged them into second place. They rounded the leeward gate bow-to-bow with Duncan Späth at the helm of Sails of Change 10. On the final downwind leg of Race 1, Ylliam 17 and Ylliam XII extended their lead to finish first and second, with Sails of Change 8 snatching third place from X-WING.
For Race 2, the course was relocated closer to Nyon. This time, X-WING nailed a perfect pin-end start, quickly pulling away from the fleet to round the windward gate in first place, closely chased by Loïc Forestier at the helm of Zen Too. The two boats were evenly matched downwind, splitting at the gate—X-WING heading left, Zen Too going right. When they converged, X-WING passed just behind Zen's transom. These positions held to the finish: Zen Too claimed the win, X-WING secured second, and Yann Guichard's Sails of Change 8 crossed in third.
In the overnight standings, Guy de Picciotto's Zen Too, X-WING, and Sails of Change 8 are tied on six points. Ylliam 17 and Ylliam XII - Comptoir Immobilier follow closely, tied on seven points in fourth and fifth respectively, with Sails of Change 10 sitting sixth on ten points.
Racing continues tomorrow, with the first warning signal scheduled for 11:30.
"We'll take what we can from today, and see what happens tomorrow. Every race, every leg, every tack, every gybe — we'll give it our best. Over the next few days, we'll try to live up to this excellent first day.", Marco Favale, owner X-WING.
Results can be found at tf35.org/results