Day 4 of the WingFoil Racing World Cup Türkiye in Urla delivered an action-packed schedule of short-course drama, although the tension began long before the fleet hit the water. The morning briefing at 10:00 saw an immediate clash over the day's format. Some leading riders vocally protested the physical demands of a proposed eight-race schedule, complaining that it was simply too much and pushing for a lighter maximum of two sessions of three races each.
However, the race officer went for a full schedule and straight into a morning session of four back-to-back races.
The rapidly building breeze proved far better than initial forecasts suggested. To capitalise on the strengthening wind and add a dynamic tactical element to the racing, organizers ran a BS2 course layout. This format incorporated high-speed reaching legs at the final stretch, intentionally designed to bring the blistering finishes right to the water's edge in front of the beach spectators.
The initial four-race slate was completed in under two hours, but the return to the beach instantly revealed a widening divide in the boat park. When surveyed about their exhaustion levels, the fleet was split down the middle.
Some complained bitterly of fatigue, but the Kiwi squad, Mathis Ghio, and Francesco Cappuzzo rallied enthusiastically for more track time. Italian rider Francesco Cappuzzo directly challenged his peers, saying that they had come to Urla to compete at an elite level, not to enjoy a holiday.
The race committee forged ahead with a rapid-fire second session after a long lunch break. Starts were fired off ruthlessly every eight minutes. Despite heavy rain fronts and severe thunderstorms threatening the wider bay area, the races went ahead as planned.
© IWSA media/Robert Hajduk
Women’s Fleet: Picot impressive in the breeze
In the women's competition, the day evolved into a high-stakes, private duel between France’s Vaina Picot and Italy’s defending World Champion Maddalena Spanu. The strength of the building breeze originally suggested that it would be ‘Advantage: Spanu’, the Italian being renowned for her mastery in heavy air.
Instead, it was Picot who found an extra gear on the flat-water racetrack, striking a definitive blow against her title rivals with an impressive display of high-speed racing. Picot dominated the day, successfully locking in five bullets across the day's seven races.
"Today was good, I mean, the wind was pretty good," Picot said, reflecting on her dominant display. "There were many good battles... I pushed, I pushed, and I managed to win five races, so I'm super happy about my performance in strong wind.
"I took my 6.5 Vayu X-Race V2 and my Levitaz board and foil," Picot said, adding that she plans to "use the same setup for tomorrow" as she advances into the critical final round in pole position.
Despite Picot's relentless pace, Spanu mounted a fierce counter-attack to claim the other two race victories, refusing to let the French rider break away entirely at the top of the leaderboard.
"Today was good," Spanu noted, pleased with her performance through the heavy gusts. "I did a great race for me... tomorrow will be a good battle with Vaina."
China's Yana Li endured a punishing afternoon. Li found herself overpowered by the localized, heavy-air gusts, she dropped crucial points as she fought to maintain control of her equipment. "Big wind isn't a big advantage for me with the other girls," Li admitted. "Yesterday there was pretty light wind... and I did great on it, I was first, second, and third. But today, I didn't do great. It was pretty overpowered for me today with my 6.5 [square metre wing]. Tomorrow I'll just try my best to get into the top three."
© IWSA media/Robert Hajduk
Men’s Fleet: Manowiecki owns the day
Poland’s Kamil Manowiecki emerged as the undisputed performer of the day in the men’s fleet, handling the land-driven gusts with precision to claim three individual race victories across the eight-race schedule.
Manowiecki’s ability to keep his foil locked down in the highly variable, localized pressures allowed him to leapfrog his closest rivals and storm into the overall event lead.
"It was incredibly tough out there with the gusts coming off the land, but I found my rhythm early," Manowiecki said. "In conditions this physical, gear choice and just staying upright are everything. I managed to keep the foil locked in and secure the points I needed."
Sitting just four points back from the flying Pole, Alessandro Tomasi of Italy put together a masterclass in regatta risk management. Tomasi secured only a single bullet on the day, but his relentless consistency at the front of the fleet prevented any catastrophic scorelines. His steady performance allowed him to build a comfortable eight-point cushion over France’s Julien Rattotti.
© IWSA media/Robert Hajduk
Rattotti ultimately enjoyed an exceptional afternoon on the water, overcoming his morning exhaustion and matching Manowiecki’s score of three bullets to keep his podium ambitions firmly alive.
For reigning World Champion Mathis Ghio, the shifty Urla Bay breeze proved more troublesome. Ghio looked off his peak pace and struggled to find his usual clear air, frequently getting pinned deep in the pack during erratic tactical exchanges. While he managed to salvage a single race victory, his uncharacteristic scores down the fleet mean he is not yet firing on all cylinders.
"Today was just a battle from start to finish, and honestly, things did not go my way," Ghio admitted. "The wind was all over the place, and I made a few critical errors with my tactical positioning. It’s frustrating to drop points like this when the stakes are so high."
New Zealand's Sean Herbert experienced an equally turbulent day on the racecourse. The Kiwi started the morning in blistering form, locking in a superb second-place finish in the day's opening race. However, as the physical toll of the rapid-fire format mounted, Herbert's execution faltered in the unpredictable windshifts, resulting in a handful of costly finishes deep in the teens.
"I just couldn’t get a handle on the shifty stuff today," Herbert remarked. "The gusts were coming through so fast, and if you were on the wrong side of a localized shift, you were completely buried."
With the Golden Ticket race - an innovative feature of the Wingfoil Racing World Cup - leaving the door open for anyone in the fleet to grab a place in the Finals, this is still an open competition. With that said, it’s going to be hard to overcome the solid performances of Picot and Manowiecki.
To follow the final day in real time, you can watch the live tracking here: https://www.metasail.com/live/866/
