IWSA WingFoil Racing - Long-Distance Drama in Urla

Day 2 of the WingFoil Racing World Cup Türkiye delivered an action-packed day of long-distance drama. Opinion is divided over these rabbit-start contests. But love ‘em or hate ‘em, that’s how these World Cups begin. The day on the bay was shaping up to be a strong-wind challenge, and most riders rigged accordingly.

The race management team laid out an ambitious course that made the most of Urla's geography: a high-speed rabbit start, followed by a punishingly long reaching leg, and an upwind beat navigating around the island in the middle of the bay. Riders had to maintain high speeds while doing their best to avoid the huge fish farms clustered tightly on the upwind approach toward the second mark, and then on to the downwind and cross-wind sections of the course towards the finish line.

Disarray in the Bay

When the competitors first got on the water, the breeze felt deceptively strong, prompting many riders to select smaller wings. However, some spotted that the breeze was dropping rapidly and came ashore for a fast switch-up to their bigger rigs. For those on the smaller gear, once the race was underway they were soon into survival and pumping mode. French competitor Romain Ghio read the initial shift perfectly: "I took my biggest wing... a 7 [square metre]. So, the wind dropped, and luckily, I made a good choice." Ghio navigated a tricky first reach before battling alongside Francesco Cappuzzo (ITA) and Freddy Strawson (GBR) to finish 6th.

While the men's first race did at least get completed, the dropping breeze proved disastrous for the women’s fleet. As the wind evaporated on the left side of the bay near the island, the women’s race ground to a halt. Chinese competitor Yana Li recalled the chaos that ensued when the breeze disappeared: "Most of the girls were with 5.5 square metre... On the first reach, I crashed into a plastic bag, but it's okay. After we crossed the first buoy, I saw everyone was stuck there on the left side near the island. The wind dropped, basically, and it was getting lighter and lighter... we couldn't go upwind. We were just all stuck in the water."

With the entire women’s fleet stranded in displacement mode, the race was abandoned. Rescue boats brought the athletes back ashore, deploying the AP flag to wait for the breeze to return.

Men’s battle between the Pole and the Kiwi

After the brief recess, a more reliable breeze built back into the bay, averaging 14 to 16 knots. However, the wind remained highly volatile, continually fluctuating and forcing frantic equipment swaps on the beach.

New Zealand's Sean Herbert put on a masterclass in downwind foiling during the early sessions. Reflecting on his opening race win, Herbert said: "I had a good, clean start... just keeping it really safe on the first reach. Had a nice rounding onto the upwind and played the shifts where I could. I was on a small foil, only a 424 [square centimetre], so I just had to keep myself in some breeze." Herbert reeled in Poland's Kamil Manowiecki just past the top reach mark and extended his lead. In the second race, the New Zealander replicated his strategy, relying on blistering downwind pace to surge from within the chasing pack to secure a consecutive bullet.

As the afternoon progressed, the wind intensified, pulsing between 16 and 20 knots with gusts touching 23 knots. The race committee adjusted the course length, adjusting the legs to preserve a target winning race time of around 16 to 20 minutes.

Manowiecki grew more confident across the four races. Despite struggling with his gear selection, commenting that the 20-minute long-distance races made choosing foils highly problematic, the flying Pole excelled on his Chubanga V4 foil setup, clocking up scores of 2,4,2,1. This remarkably steady performance catapulted him into the overall lead, albeit just a point ahead of Herbert with the worst-race discard.

Defending European Champion Julien Rattotti faced a challenging day on what happened to be his birthday. However the French rider failed to secure a race win, registering a 3, 5, 3, and a discarded 17. "No birthday present," he laughed afterwards. "A 3rd is not enough to make myself a present... It was a tough day, because taking the right decision for the sail was all about the conditions and the strategy on the left side of the course because we run past the island." Rattotti sits in third overall, although the points remain very close in the top few.

Italian challenger Alessandro Tomasi proved his long-distance pedigree, snatching a race victory in the third heat to sit closely behind Rattotti in fourth overall. Multiple world champion Mathis Ghio will be disappointed to be lying in sixth, although the long distance format has never tended to be the Frenchman’s strong suit.

Spanu and Picot Dominate the Women's Fleet

Once the women's fleet re-launched in the stabilised thermal breeze, 2025 World Cup Champion Maddalena "Maddie" Spanu and reigning European Champion Vaina Picot put on an absolute masterclass. The duo surged ahead of the rest of the fleet, transforming the long-distance races into a personal duel.

Spanu relished the heavier air, storming her way to a 1, 1, 2 scorecard to finish the day one point ahead of her French rival. "Today was super good. The wind was pretty strong, 15–20 knots, and I like it a lot," Spanu said. "I was super comfortable with my equipment... The reach part was the most important thing of the race to feel fast, and I feel really fast."

Picot matched Spanu’s blistering pace, grabbing the remaining race bullet to sit in second place. Picot’s day wasn't without drama, however, particularly during the final race: "At the last race, I took three plastic bags on my foil, so I'm so happy to finish second because it was really crazy. The wind is crazy here in Urla... I changed my wing many times, but in the end, I took the 5.5."

Behind the leading pair, a fierce mid-fleet battle unfolded. Greece's Aimilia Kosti moved into third overall after a model of consistency (3, 3, 4), while Charlotte Baruzzi (ITA) and Iset Segura (ESP) traded blows further down the track. Local Turkish favorite Dilara Uralp Palombo, returning to top-flight racing after a long hiatus, fought through the demanding long-distance courses to finish the day 7th overall. "It was a really difficult day," Palombo admitted. "The wind was changing a lot. It was the first time I did such a long course; the long reaching parts require a lot of power and you need to push hard, but it was fun!"

Looking Ahead to Day 3

With the long-distance qualifiers complete, the format changes dramatically for Day 3. For Thursday the race committee has scheduled an intense schedule of eight Short-Track races, split into two four-race sessions with a lunch break in between.

The men’s fleet will now be divided into separate qualifying groups to determine the Gold and Silver fleet allocations for the subsequent Final Series. Conversely, the women's fleet will continue to race in a single, high-stakes group, as the event moves towards the end-of-regatta Medal Series. The skippers' meeting is set for 10:00, with the first warning signal scheduled for 11:00.