Youth is King as Championship Doubles Down on Distance
A 20-foot inflatable motorboat ripping upwind at 24 knots, was the pathfinder that launched all 64 riders together around Snake Island for the opening day long-distance races of the Dogus Marine Services Formula Wing European Championships.
Consistency is Key
The unique distance format, puts women and men fleets together for a gruelling race that is more than three times the length of a normal Formula Wing course race. Riders duck behind the fast moving boat, called a “rabbit,” for a reaching start leaving the fleet lined up and hitting top speeds heading for the first turning mark.
After 19 minutes of pedal-to-the-metal action in race one, a crash at the final turning mark by Kamil Manowiecki of Poland handed the lead to Sardinian Ernesto De Amicis. The Italian, who’s also an under-19-years-old rider, never looked back and with a loud cheer from his father, crossed the finish line winning his first ever long-distance race.
© IWSA media/Robert Hajduk: U19 rider Ernesto De Amicis [ITA] leads the fleet after two distance races
“In reality I don’t know what happened but I just won the long distance race. I can’t believe it,” said De Amicis. “I moved into second, then decided to chill, relax, recharge the battery to pump in the downwind. Kamil crashed, I don’t know why, but this is a very good sensation.”
Manowiecki’s mistake was mirrored around the course. Top riders had shockers in race one. Mathis Ghio of France wiped out halfway through the race and countryman Bastien Escofet’s wing began deflating.
Ghio and Escofet came back in the second race, however, with a first and third respectively.
De Amicis was hot in the second race and a top five finish gave him a clean lead overall ahead of Manowiecki while Frenchman Mateo Dussarps sailed consistently to end the day in third.
© IWSA media/ Robert Hajduk: Kamil Manowiecki [POL] held onto second overall even after crashing out in race one
Monge takes on the Fleet
The fastest women pressed their counterparts in race one until the top of Snake Island where the 10-knot breeze steadied out. Marta Monge of Italy was streaking around the first mark with the leaders and showed no signs of backing down.
“She was with the top of our group through the beginning,” said Italy’s Francesco Cappuzzo who managed a seventh overall. “Marta was on my neck the whole time, its was impressive.”
© IWSA media/ Robert Hajduk: Riding high and pushing her foil to the limit, Marta Monge [ITA] dominated the women on day one
Monge couldn’t hang on and slipped to 22nd, five minutes behind De Amicis, but managed a race win in the women’s group. Karolina Kluszczynska of Poland wasn’t far behind in second, 29th overall. She held off two more female riders who finished on her heels. Greece’s Emilia Kosti was the third female finisher in 30th and Katarzyna Trautman was 31st overall.
Monge took on race two with the same razor-sharp focus and was first woman again while Kluszczynska and Kosti exchanged places behind her. The greek ended the day as second ranked female ahead of Kluszczynska in third.
© IWSA media/ Robert Hajduk: Karolina Kluszczynska [POL] still happy with her third place
Wednesday’s racing will move to split fleets for the opening series. Women will race as one fleet while the 52-rider men’s fleet will be split into yellow and blue groups. Once eight races are reached, the men’s fleet will be split into gold and silver fleets.
Building the Wing Foil Base
Unlike the open equipment rules in the WingFoil Racing World Cup, Formula Wing was created to reduce the costs associated with competing by limiting the number of wings, foils and boards.
“It’s an attempt to make this a more level playing field and less of an arms race,” said Markus Schwendtner of the International Wing Sports Association. “We are in phase one now for the Europeans getting existing equipment registered. We want to get people into the sport and into racing so we don’t have a disconnect between the top end of the sport and the people on the beach. If that happens, there’s no future.”
© IWSA media/ Robert Hajduk: Race officials managed a finicky thermal wind to pull off two races
Not only is the amount of equipment limited, but there is also a list of series production equipment that is registered with World Sailing by the manufacturers. All off-the-shelf wings, boards and foils for Formula Wing competition.
The remaining events under these rules include September’s Formula Wing Worlds in Sardinia, followed by the Youth and Masters Worlds in the Azores.
Four more days of racing remain for the Formula Wing Europeans as the fleet continues with the opening series. Racing goes live online starting Friday leading up to the Saturday’s medal series.
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